Emily's Fate
by Glowingsoul
Summary: Emily, a young house cat, loves the moors and wishes to live there. What she doesn't know is that Oceanclan's territory lies in them. One day she visits the moors an encounters an Oceanclan warrior...It is better than it sounds so: PLEASE R&R, T for later
1. Allegiances

**This is my allegiance for Oceanclan:**

**OCEANCLAN**

**Clever&Brave**

**LEADER**

**SPRAYSTAR—**silver-gray tom, dark blue eyes

**DEPUTY**

**SUNGAZE—**dark ginger tom, yellow eyes **Mate: SEAFROST**

**MEDICINE CAT**

**ROSEDAPPLE—**tortoiseshell and white she-cat, pale blue eyes

**APPRENTICE, GULLFLIGHT—**white tom with a brown face, blue eyes

**WARRIORS**

**GLOWINGSOUL—**silver she-cat with eyes, the color of the deep green sea **APPRENTICE, LIGHTPAW ****/ Mate: SPARROWWING**

**SPARROWWING—**light brown tabby tom, pale blue eyes **Mate: GLOWINGSOUL**

**NEEDLESTRIPE—**tabby tom with darker stripes, pale green eyes **Mate: SHELLHEART**

**SHELLHEART—**white she-cat with ginger splotches, dark green eyes **Mate: NEEDLESTRIPE**

**HEATHERTAIL—**light brown she-cat, purple-blue eyes **APPRENTICE, SPOTTEDPAW ****/ Mate: WINDSTEP**

**SANDCLAW—**ginger tom, amber eyes **APPRENTICE, STRIPEDPAW**

**GRASSPELT—**dark gray tabby tom, dark green eyes **APPRENTICE, FEATHERPAW**

**CLOUDFUR—**pale gray, thick furred she-cat, pale blue eyes

**SEAFROST—**pale silver she-cat, sea-blue eyes **Mate: SUNGAZE**

**WATERCOAT—**white she-cat, blue eyes

**FROZENWAVE—**white she-cat, green eyes

**WINDSTEP—**swift brown tom, amber eyes **Mate: HEATHERTAIL**

**SKYWHISKER—**gray tom with long whiskers, brown eyes ** APPRENTICE, THORNPAW**

**STORMCLAW—**dark gray tom, yellow eyes **Mate: PUDDLENOSE**

**RABBITEAR—**brown tom with big ears, amber eyes

**SWOOPINGBIRD—**black she-cat, yellow eyes

**RAINFLOWER—**gray she-cat, water-blue eyes ** APPRENTICE, SEALPAW**

**HAILFUR—**gray tom, blue eyes **Mate: BLACKSTREAM**

**ICEHEART—**white tom, blue eyes **Mate: GOLDENBERRY**

**BREEZEPELT—**ginger, amber eyes **Mate: TANGLELEAF**

**STONEFOOT—**dark gray tom, pale gray eyes

**PUDDLENOSE—**tabby she-cat, pale gray around the muzzle, green eyes **Mate: STORMCLAW**

**PEBBLEPOOL—**white she-catwith gray spots, amber eyes

**PINEEAR—**dark reddish-brown tom, yellow eyes **APPRENTICE, REDPAW ****/ Mate: DARKDAPPLE**

**APPRENTICES**

**STRIPEDPAW—**brown tabby tom with darker stripes, amber eyes

**FEATHERPAW—**pale gray tabby tom with long whiskers, blue eyes

**SPOTTEDPAW—**pale ginger she-cat with faint dark ginger spots, green eyes

**THORNPAW—**black tom with slightly spiked fur, yellow eyes

**SEALPAW—**very dark gray tom, dark brown eyes

**REDPAW—**dark ginger tom with reddish paws, green eyes

**LIGHTPAW—**very pale ginger she-cat, gray eyes

**QUEENS**

**TANGLELEAF—**dark tortoiseshell tabby, golden eyes **Mate: BREEZEPELT**

**DARKDAPLE—**dark brown tortoiseshell with a dappled coat, green eyes **Mate: PINEEAR**

**BLACKSTREAM—**pure black with pale green eyes **Mate: HAILFUR**

**GOLDENBERRY—**golden she-cat with a slightly spotted belly and lovely brown eyes **Mate: ICEHEART**

**ELDERS**

**SILVERBACK—**silver tom ,blue eyes

**FUZZYTAIL—**black and dark gray tom with kinked tail fur, yellow eyes

**RUSHINGWIND—**reddish she-cat with long fur, yellow eyes

**SEDGESONG—**brown tabby she-cat with gray around the muzzle, brown eyes

**KITS**(toms and she-cats younger than six moons) (mothers are underlined)

* * *

><p><strong>FOAMKIT—<strong>pale gray tom, green eyes **BLACKSTREAM**

**STEAMKIT—**silver tom, blue eyes ** &**

**PRICKLEKIT—**black she-kit, dark blue eyes ** HAILFUR**

**BERRYKIT—**black she-kit, pale green eyes

* * *

><p><strong>SHORTKIT—<strong>brown tabby tom with a short tail, golden eyes **TANGLELEAF**

**PETALKIT—**tortoiseshell she-kit with white spots on her back ** &**

** BREEZEPELT**

* * *

><p><strong>TALLKIT—<strong>dark brown, dappled she-kit, dark green eyes **DARKDAPPLE**

**GREENKIT—**pale tortoiseshell she-kit, yellow eyes **&**

**BLUEKIT—**reddish she-kit, blue eyes **PINEEAR**

* * *

><p><strong>WHITEKIT—<strong>white tom, brown eyes **GOLDENBERRY**

**CRABKIT—**golden tom, blue eyes **&**

** ICEHEART**


	2. Chapter 1:  Found!

Hello everyone, this is my first ever fan fiction and I would like it if you give me some honest reviews. The story is about a young she-cat called Emily who desperately wants to live in the moors not knowing that Oceanclan lives there already. On a trip through the moor Emily encounters an Oceanclan warrior. Oceanclan's territory is along the coast of the sundrownplace and a three-day cat-trip away from the territories by the lake. In my story however there are not Thunderclan, Windclan, Riverclan and Shadowclan that live by the lake but Earthclan (alias: Thunderclan), Skyclan (alias: Windclan), Iceclan (alias: Riverclan) and Fireclan (alias: Shadowclan). Hope you have fun reading.

**Emily's Fate **

The wind blew softly and ruffled Emily's soft fur behind her ears. It carried the scent of the heath land and the moors into her garden. Emily loved this scent; it smelled fresh and wild, so totally different to the scents in her garden or her housefolk's nest. If you smelled carefully you could even catch the salty scent of the ocean behind the moors. Emily looked into the sky and saw tiny specks of light shining onto her; twinkling, as if they would wanted to tell her something. She jumped onto the high fence that surrounded the whole garden and should actually keep her from leaving, however a moon of practice had made her a very good jumper and the fence was easy to pass. Emily jumped down of the fence and padded to the edge of the housefolk place she lived in. Her black fur fitted in perfectly with the shadows, only her yellow eyes would give her away. Suddenly she heard the voice of one of the housefolks, calling her. She longed to ignore it however she knew that her housefolk would search the garden and she didn't want them to know that she could escape. She walked back to the fence, leaped over it and headed for the squared shaped light that shone from the entrance of the nest.

The warmth of the nest surrounded her as she casted a last longing look at the door. Her housefolk put down the food bowl she had been holding the whole time and Emily rapidly gulped it down, trying to ignore the stale taste. She lapped up some of the warm, rusty tasting water and jumped onto her owner's lap who sat on an armchair. There she snoozed while her owner gently stroked her fur.

She woke up the next morning on the chair her housefolk had been sitting in. She arched her back and stretched her legs to loosen her limbs. Then she padded to the windowsill and waited there until her housefolk would wake up and let her out. She didn't have to wait for long. One of her owners opened the back door and finally she was back in the garden. She quickly checked if nobody saw her then she jumped over the fence. Her fur shone red in the sun as she padded to her friend's garden. "Hey, Pepper are you there?" she meowed softly. As an answer something heavy landed on her back. Emily yowled in surprise and twisted to get the load of her back. As quickly as the attack had started it ended and Emily saw her best friend licking her ginger fur. "Don't you ever do that again!" Emily said and playfully swiped a paw at Pepper's ear. "Hey!" Pepper meowed and the two got caught up in a playful fight. A while later they both lay on the ground panting, licking their ruffled pelts. "What should we do now?" Pepper asked still slightly out of breath. "I want to explore the moors." Emily said and waited for her friend's reaction. "You can't go to the moors, it's dangerous!" Pepper exclaimed. "But I really want to see what there is and explore. Please come with me" Emily begged. "Okay, but only for short time and you would definitely walk into some kind of trouble if I didn't come with you." Emily ignored the last sentence and headed for the moors, purring happily. "Wait for me!" Pepper yowled and followed her.

As soon as they were on the moor the wind grew stronger. The two cats made their way through the hills and dunes where they had difficulties as their paws slid on the sandy dunes. As the sun was almost above them Pepper called for Emily, she was way behind: "Emily come back this is getting too exhausting. We can do something else and I'm getting hungry anyway." Emily longed to continue but her friend was right. The wind had grown even stronger and blew small sand corns in their face and Emily was hungry as well.

They reached the edge of the moor way past sun-high, exhausted and hungry. Pepper immediately ran home and called a quick good-bye over her shoulder. Emily ran home as well, already preparing to eat the horrible food as fast as she could. After her meal she went back into the garden and lay down under a big bush for a quick nap. In her dream she was running through the moor, the air brushing against her fur. She was quick as the wind and no sand was being blown into her face or sliding under her paws, only springy grass and sweat smelling heather. She kept on running until she woke up. The moon was already high in the sky. She wondered what had woken her when she heard the rattling of the dry food pellets in a bowl. She roused stiffly and padded to her owner. She rubbed her head against his leg and entered the nest. After Emily had eaten all her food she jumped onto the windowsill and stared at the moon the whole night, thinking of the moors. She decided that she would visit the moors again even if Pepper wouldn't join her.

As the sun began to rise her owners let her out and she headed for the moors straight away. She had come to the thought that Pepper would not join her. Back in the moors Emily felt free and sighed  
>with satisfaction. Suddenly she caught the scent of rabbit in the air. She opened her mouth to scent better and as she had localized the rabbit she instinctively crouched down low and prowled forward. She saw the bobbing white tail, then the ears. She crept forward and accidently stepped on a stick that snapped under her weight. The rabbit darted forward and Emily ran after it in pursuit. She gained speed and could almost reach the rabbit. She bunched her muscles in a humongous jump and missed the rabbit by inches. Emily yowled in fury for the lost prey. All of a sudden a strange voice called for her: "Hey, what do you think you're doing here?" Emily spun around and faced a lean gray tom, the muscles rippled under his tabby pelt. He stared at her with hard green eyes. "Who are you and what are you doing on Oceanclan's territory?"<p> 


	3. Chapter 2: Training

I just saw that the allegiance for the kits got a bit messed up, sorry for that. Here they are again:

**KITS**(toms and she-cats younger than six moons) (= mother)

…**...**

**FOAMKIT—**pale gray tom, green eyes **BLACKSTREAM**

**STEAMKIT—**silver tom, blue eyes **&**

**PRICKLEKIT—**black she-kit, dark blue eyes **HAILFUR**

**BERRYKIT—**black she-kit, pale green eyes

…

**SHORTKIT—**brown tabby tom with a short tail, golden eyes **TANGLELEAF**

**PETALKIT—**tortoiseshell she-kit with white spots on her back **&**

**BREEZEPELT**

…

**TALLKIT—**dark brown, dappled she-kit, dark green eyes **DARKDAPPLE**

**GREENKIT—**pale tortoiseshell she-kit, yellow eyes **&**

**BLUEKIT—**reddish she-kit, blue eyes **PINEEAR**

…**...**

**WHITEKIT—**white tom, brown eyes **GOLDENBERRY**

**CRABKIT—**golden tom, blue eyes **&**

**ICEHEART**

…**...**

**Here is chapter 2, hope you like it:**

Emily, who had been standing there paralyzed with fear, answered with a quivering voice: "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know this was your territory. I will leave right away."

"I'd better think so." the tom answered sternly. Emily turned around as the tom said in warmer voice: "That chase was very good for a kittypet." _What is a kittypet? _Emily thought and faced the tom again.

"You think so?" Emily answered uncertainly.

"Yes, I do. Normally kittypets don't hunt."

"What is a kittypet?" Emily asked. "It is a cat that lives with twolegs." Emily looked puzzled. _What is a twoleg? _

As if the tom had read her thoughts he said: "A twoleg is what you would call housefolk, I guess."

Emily wondered: "Don't you belong to any housefolk? I haven't seen you before. Are you new?"

The tom answered with disgust in his voice: "I would _never_ want to live a life as a kittypet. You get soft and fat and in the end I wouldn't be a tom anymore. Plus you are not free and you don't have any clanmates around you."

"Clanmates?" Emily asked.

"Do you think I live alone in a clan?" the tom sounded amused.

"What is a clan?" Emily asked, feeling stupid.

"You kittypets know less than I thought you would." The tom chuckled. Emily looked at her paws in embarrassment.

"Ah, well, I guess I'll just explain." The tom sighed and started to talk: "I am not the only cat that lives in the moors, as you might have figured out by now. I belong to Oceanclan; I serve as a warrior there. By the way, warriors make up most of the clan; they hunt for prey, control the borders and defend the clan if necessary. Every clan has a clan leader, ours is called Spraystar. Of course we have a deputy too. The deputy organizes the border and hunting patrols and discusses certain issues with the clan leader. Then we have a medicine cat. A medicine cat cures wounds and illnesses and receives signs from Starclan."

"What is Starclan?"

"Please don't interrupt me, I might tell you later." Emily kept silent. "Where was I? Ah, yes the medicine cat. Well then there are the queens who expect or nurse the kits. Last but not least we have the elders; they are warriors and queens who are too old to care for themselves or to get kits or hunt and have retired. They are one of the most honorable members of our clan. One thing that you should know is that every cat in the clan lives by the warrior code which tells us how to behave. Now I will tell you about Starclan." The tom said as he noticed that Emily wanted to interrupt him again. "All our ancestors live in Starclan. Whenever a clan cat dies they go to join Starclan. Starclan watch over us and guide us. Do you see the stars at night?" Emily nodded. "Each star represents a fallen cat and the wide silver band that you can see every night is called Silverpelt and it is the home of Starclan."

Emily started to understand but she still had some questions. "Are there more clans in the moors?"

The tom looked at her. "No but a three-day trip from her there are four more clans that live around a lake. They are called Earthclan, Skyclan, Iceclan and Fireclan."

"Oh, okay, I have one last question." Emily meowed.

"Go on then." The tom said.

"What is your name?" The tom looked at her thoughtfully, as if he weren't sure whether he should tell her, and then he said: "Grasspelt, and yours?"

"Emily." _Grasspelt, what a nice name, it sounds so fresh._

"Emily," she jerked her head to him as he disturbed her thoughts, "that where some really fine hunting-skills I saw earlier, at least for a kittypet. Do you fancy to learn some more?"

"You would really teach me?" Emily stared at him in disbelief.

"Don't look at me like that; I just want to find out if there is more potential in you than I saw. So I ask again, do you want me to teach you some skills?"

"Yes sure, but what will happen if we get caught?"

"I don't know, but let's not think about it."

That night Emily couldn't fall asleep. She lay in her basket and tried to sort the thoughts that raced through her mind. After she had accepted Grasspelt's offer he had taught her the basic skills for catching a rabbit. She had to leave rapidly when they had scented a patrol coming closer, nevertheless Grasspelt still managed to tell when and where they should meet. Tomorrow at sun high the edge to the twoleg place.

As soon as the twolegs let her out Emily ran to the moor. She knew that she would have to wait until sun high but she didn't care. While she waited she explored her surroundings, always careful not to run into a border patrol. Finally she heard footsteps and caught Grasspelt's scent on the breeze.

"Hi Emily." He called. "Are you ready for some more training?"

"Of course I am," she said, barely able to hide her excitement. "What are we doing today?"

"I think that we should start with catching birds."Grasspelt signaled her to follow him and headed for a small group of trees not far behind the border. "Now concentrate, do you smell anything?" Emily closed her eyes and opened her mouth. She caught the scent of a starling and a heartbeat later she could hear the bird's wings rustling on the grass.

"Crouch down low and put your weight on your haunches," Grasspelt advised her. "Good, no creep forward, but be careful not to let your tail sweep over the ground." Emily slowly crept forward, careful not to make any sound. She could already see the bird. It was small and brown and carelessly picked at some seeds. Only a fox-length separated Emily and her prey. All of a sudden wind came up and made the leaves rustle where she was. The starling flew away in panic but Emily wouldn't let this prey escape. She bunched her muscles for an enormous leap. With extended claws she grabbed for the bird in mid-air and brought it down. Emily killed it with a quick bite at the neck. Purring proudly Emily looked at Grasspelt, admiration shown in his eyes.

"That was amazing, where did you learn to jump so high?"

Flattered Emily shifted her paws. "There is s very high fence that surrounds my garden. It should actually keep me from leaving the garden but it only took me a moon of practice to pass it."

"Well, I guess you won't have any problems with catching birds, let's try rabbits." Grasspelt purred and padded away. Emily quickly followed.

"If you want to catch rabbits, you have to learn how to run as fast as you can even on sandy dunes. That is why I think we should start a little race." _A race? Wouldn't that be too risky? What if we get caught? And how in Starclan's name should I defeat a trained Oceanclan warrior? _

"Where should we race?" Emily asked trying to ignore her doubts.

"Do you see that single tree over there? We will race until there and back again." Grasspelt sounded confident.

"How do you know that we won't get caught?" Emily asked uncertainly.

"There has been a patrol here before sunrise and the next one will come after the sun goes down. Now do want to race or not?"

Feeling save now Emily was eager to prove herself: "Of course I do!"

"Okay the on the count of three: one—two—THREE!" Grasspelt yowled and took off. Emily was hard on his paws at first but slowly came out of breath and fell behind. Suddenly the ground dropped and Emily half fell, half skidded down the sandy slope. She quickly caught herself however she had problems to get out of the hollow. Panting she reached the edge an ran for the tree. On her way back she jumped as far as she could at the edge of the sandy hollow and almost landed on the other side only the climb proved itself as difficult again. As she finally reached the goal her limbs where tired and her lungs where screaming for more air. She flopped onto the ground breathing heavily. Grasspelt purred in amusement and licked his fur.

"I think it is enough for today. You should go home now." Emily was too tired to argue and let Grasspelt lead her to the border. Grasspelt purred a good-bye and flicked her flank with his tail. Emily headed for her twoleg-nest, lay down under the thick bush and fell asleep immediately.

After moon of training Emily could feel the muscles ripple under fur and easily keep up with Grasspelt at races. Grasspelt had also started to teach her how to fight and after each training session he would tell her about Starclan and the warrior code. By then Oceanclan's scent seemed more familiar to her than the one of her twoleg nest.

On the day exactly a moon after they had first met, Emily waited for Grasspelt again and wondered if she would learn a new battle move or just go hunting. A rustling of the gorse announced Grasspelt's arrival. Emily jumped up and purred affectionately. _It has been so much fun to train with Grasspelt. And I almost feel like a warrior now. Maybe I can join his clan sometime._

"What are w doing today?" Emily asked.

"I don't know should we train your fighting skills again? I think you still need to improve this one attack that we did yesterday."

"Yeah, that's a good idea; I just can't get the hang of it." Emily agreed. Suddenly the gorse rustled again and the two cats jerked around frozen in shock as a lean brown tom stepped towards them, his amber eyes glaring at them in disbelief and anger.

**Who is that tom and what will happen next? Please continue to review I'll be glad for any tip you can give me. :D**


	4. Chapter 3: Lost

**Whoop-pii! I finished my third chapter!**

"I can't believe you're training a _kittypet._" The brown tom spat out the last word as if it were mouse bile in his mouth. Emily winced at looked at Grasspelt. She was confused as she saw that his fur wasn't standing on end anymore.

"Windstep, you really gave me a fright. Please don't ever creep up on me like that again." Grasspelt's fur lay perfectly flat now and he sat down with his tail neatly wrapped around his paws.

"Grasspelt," Windstep spoke again. "Don't act as if nothing bad is happening right now-"

"Come on Windstep, I know you wouldn't tell anyone." Grasspelt interrupted him.

"It still doesn't mean that I approve of it." Windstep replied in an icy voice. "You know that you are breaking the warrior code but you don't seem to care. I thought you where loyal to the clan." As he said this Emily could see a flash of guilt in Grasspelt's green eyes. "I think you should leave now." Emily shrank back as Windstep turned his amber glare on her. _I think he is right though, I should leave. _Emily turned around and wanted to nudge Grasspelt for a good-bye but she didn't dare with Windstep's eyes burning into her pelt; instead she just whispered a quick farewell and headed home.

As soon as she was out of Windstep's sight she started to run as fast as she could and soon left the moors behind her. Back at home she ignored the food and immediately curled up in her basket. That night she lay awake a long time. _What did I think when I said yes the first time Grasspelt asked me to train me. It was meant to go wrong. Look at how hostile Windstep was, how would another clan cat have reacted that wasn't _friend_ of Grasspelt. At least I think Windstep was a friend. It was foolish from me to think that I could join the clan. They would never accept me._ When Emily finally fell asleep, angry cats spat and hissed at her with hostility in their voices.

The next morning Emily wondered whether she should go and meet Grasspelt again or if he would be waiting for her. _Would Windstep let Grasspelt out of camp if he was certain that he would try to meet me? Probably not. _Emily decided that she wouldn't go to the moor today. She could visit Pepper again; Emily hadn't seen her in ages.

Emily could see Pepper ginger fur flash from far away already. She was chasing a small bird that couldn't fly yet. _I wouldn't have to do such a thing. I would go for the big birds._ Emily thought and trotted over to Pepper.

"Hey Pepper!" she called.

"Emily, is that you? I haven't seen you for such a long time. Where have you been?" Pepper turned around, amazement in her eyes.

"I was sick." Emily lied and hoped Pepper would take it. Of course she didn't.

"You can't be sick for a whole moon. I thought you moved away without telling me." Emily could hear the hurt in Peppers voice. Emily purred and licked Peppers ear to comfort her.

"I would never do that." Emily promised. Pepper still looked a bit hurt but her curiosity seemed to win over her and soon Pepper attacked her with questions.

"Where have you been the whole time? Please, tell me the truth now." Emily knew that she had to confess or she would have Pepper asking her the same question until one of them died. Although Emily guessed that Pepper would keep on asking her even if she were dead.

"Fine, I guess I have no other choice than to tell you." Emily sighed. "Okay, do you remember the day we visited the moor?"

"Yes that was the last time I saw you." Pepper snapped.

"Well the day after that I visited the moor again. I decide that I would try to hunt for some food…" Emily told Pepper the whole story and was only interrupted a few times. In the end Pepper stared at her in disbelief.

"No way, that didn't happen." Pepper was still starring at her.

"Believe me, it did happen."

"Show me some battle moves then." Pepper demanded.

"If you want me to…" Emily showed Pepper almost everything she had learned from Grasspelt. Pepper's expression turned from disbelieve to astonishment.

"Whoa, that is so awesome, but it wouldn't be any thing for me." Emily knew that Pepper would say that, but it didn't bother her as much as it would have used to. She realized that she had grown closer to Grasspelt than she had ever been to Pepper. Emily missed him and the moors. She had just realized how much she wanted to join Oceanclan. But know she couldn't do that anymore, not after Windstep had found them training together.

The moon was already high in the sky when Emily finally left Pepper. Her twoleg had already been calling her for a long time, but she didn't listen and lay down under her big bush.


	5. Chapter 4 Grasspelt: Desicion

**This one is of Grasspelt's point of view. But it is only for the sake of information. Emily will be back in the next chapter, I promise.**

Grasspelt woke up and padded out of the warriors den. He stretched and walked over to the freshkill pile. Then he picked out a juicy mouse and sat down to eat. Windstep walked by and cast him a cold glance. _He will be back to normal in a few days. _He knew that his friend was only trying to protect him but this time he didn't need any help. Sungaze, a reddish tom with yellow eyes, and their deputy as well, called out names for the morning patrol; Grasspelt wasn't with any of them. After he had finished his mouse he groomed himself.

"Grasspelt," Sungaze called him. "You will be on a hunting patrol with Seafrost, Heathertail and Sandclaw." Grasspelt gave his fur a last lick then he followed the white she cat out of camp. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sandclaw's pale ginger and Heathertail's light brown pelt next to each other.

The patrol came back to camp with each of them carrying a rabbit or some birds. They were just in time to hear Spraystar's call: "Let all cats, old enough to catch their own prey, join here beneath the Rockpile for a clan meeting!" Grasspelt and his patrol quickly dropped their prey on the freshkill pile and joined the other cats that had already gathered. Grasspelt noticed Seafrost, a pale silver queen with sea-blue eyes, sitting next to the Rockpile with her two kits on either side of her. Grasspelt knew that the two were going to be apprenticed today. Two days ago Spraystar had asked him if he would like to mentor one of the kits. Of course he did. He had wanted to tell Emily but then Windstep had found them and he didn't have another chance.

Grasspelt looked back up to Spraystar; the silver-gray tom beckoned one of the kits forward. It was a small tom; his very dark, gray fur was fluffed up in nervousness and his dark brown eyes shown with excitement.

"From this day on, until he has earned his warrior name, this apprentice will be called Sealpaw. Rainflower," a gray cat with blue eyes stepped forward. "You were Sandclaw's apprentice. He taught you well, and you have become a brave and loyal warrior. I hope you will pass some of your skills onto your new apprentice." Sealpaw, who was now quivering with excitement, stepped forward to touch noses with Rainflower. After that was done he sat down next to her to watch his brother. Spraystar cleared his throat to name the second apprentice. The toms pale gray fur lay flat, only his long, quivering whiskers and his blue eyes betrayed his feelings.

"This apprentice will be known as Featherpaw. Grasspelt, you will train Featherpaw. Hailfur was your mentor. I hope that his skill and wisdom will pass through you onto this young apprentice." Grasspelt walked forward and touched noses with his new apprentice.

"Sealpaw, Featherpaw! Sealpaw, Featherpaw!" the clan started to chant their new names. Grasspelt saw Skywhisker, a gray tom with long whiskers, standing at the edge of the crowd; his brown eyes gleaming with pride for his two sons.

"Grasspelt, what will we do now?" Featherpaw was standing behind him, eager to begin the training.

"I think that you should eat something first and then I will show you the territory."

"But I'm not hungry at all."

"Are you sure? This will be a long day and I don't know when we may eat the next time." Grasspelt stifled a purr of laughter as he saw Featherpaw running to the camp entrance already. _There goes my breakfast. _Grasspelt sighed and followed his apprentice out of camp.

"So what are we doing? Are we going to fight or hunt?" excitement still glowed in Featherpaw's eyes.

"No, I am going to show you the territory." Grasspelt said, almost expecting the apprentice to be less eager.

"Okay let's go." The apprentice didn't lose a single bit of his excitement. _He will make a good warrior if he will stay as eager to learn as this._ Grasspelt trotted after his apprentice.

"Do you even know where we are going?" Grasspelt asked Featherpaw stopped in his tracks and turned around, slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry Grasspelt, I think you should lead."

"I think so too, now follow me." _However he will need to work on his discipline_. They walked side by side as Grasspelt lead Featherpaw through the territory. Grasspelt showed his apprentice Greatrocks, a pile of big boulders south of the camp, that were a preferred place for small animals to hide in, Smallwoods, a small forest that was great for catching birds and the old rabbit set, east of the camp and the training hollow, which was an open space, half sand, half grass, that was surrounded by dunes and grassy hills lying in the north of the camp. On their way they passed the border to the twoleg place and Grasspelt realized how much he missed Emily. He came to a decision. _I must ask Emily if she wants to join Oceanclan, I just have to._

"There is one last thing that you should see if you want to call yourself an Oceanclan apprentice."

"What is it?" Featherpaw's tail, which had been drooping with exhaustion, lifted itself a little again.

"I was about to tell you." Grasspelt laughed silently

"I'm sorry." Featherpaw didn't sound a little sorry at all.

"It is the Ocean." Grasspelt laughed again as he saw the flash of excitement in his apprentices eyes and heard the little squeak of delight.

"Come on, let's keep going." Featherpaw said. He trotted next to Grasspelt with his source of newly found energy. They ventured to the west. The further they went the clearer they could hear the crashing waves and taste the salty air.

Grasspelt climbed up the last dune and waited for his apprentice to follow.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Featherpaw exclaimed, Grasspelt just purred. The two toms sat on the dune until the sun had sunken into the water and the reddish flash had gone. After the last signs of light had disappeared, they made their way back to camp. As soon as Grasspelt dismissed his apprentice, Featherpaw headed for the apprentices' den to sleep. Grasspelt felt the tiredness dragging at his limbs as well but the hunger was bigger so he ate something first then he curled up in his nest too. _Tomorrow I will ask Emily if she will join Oceanclan._

**Note: The ceremonial words can be found in Erin Hunter's books. That means I don't own them, their Erin's, I just can't think of any good own ones. **

**Sorry for any spelling mistakes that might appear. :D**


	6. Chapter 5: Leave the past behind!

**This one is back with Emily as I had promised. Thank you StormWolf77 for writing reviews. (Just for you: Thank you, very much! I was desperately waiting for reviews! By the way, I have so many cats because I have so many ideas for cats; I have four more clans and one tribe with an equal amount of cats. So be surprised if I ever do a "Create A Cat"-thing. :D)**

Emily woke up and stretched luxuriously until her limbs started to shake. Then she padded up to her food bowl and gulped down the last pieces of food there were left, she tried hard not to gag on it. She lapped up the rest of the rusty tasting water and then she climbed into the hard twoleg box to make her dirt. After this was done, she walked up the weird, edgy, wooden path that led to the second level of the twoleg nest and padded up the wooden board that sealed her owners' sleeping place from the other dens. Emily scratched at the board and started to meow pitifully to wake her owners up. She didn't have to scratch for long; a twoleg came out of the den, wearing a thin, wavy pelt, and patted Emily's head. Then her owner walked down the edgy path and opened the front door so Emily could go out into the garden. Emily purred gratefully, ran into garden and leaped over the fence as soon as nobody was watching her. She didn't know where she wanted to go so she just let herself be carried by her paws. Only when she suddenly stopped she realized where she was; at the edge to Oceanclan's territory. It had been three sunrises now since she had last been here. And now, every hair in her fur, every breath in her lungs, every muscle in her body, just everything of her desperately longed to take a step over the border and to race through Oceanclan's territory, to find Grasspelt and tell him that she wanted to be a warrior, a part of his life. But she couldn't possibly go. Not after Windstep had found Grasspelt and her together, not after Emily had experienced the hostility a clan cat would show towards her. Emily sighed. She missed Grasspelt so much and she hated Windstep for what he had done, for destroying her daily training session with Grasspelt. She hated Windstep so much that she wanted to tare open his skin with her claws when she saw her the next time. Emily looked down onto her paws and saw that her claws were unsheathed and had ripped deep lines into the soft earth. She was shocked by the burning fury she had felt in her chest and that vanished as quickly as it came. Instead of anger she now just felt an empty hole in her chest. _How can I blame Windstep? He has done nothing wrong. I was the intruder and I guess he only tried to behave according to the warrior code. I would have done the same thing._ She just wished that she could talk to Grasspelt right now, he could help her sort through her thoughts and then she could ask him if –

"Emily!" the call gave Emily a huge shock. She looked fir the source of the voice even though she could detect this voice in a million of other ones. She saw the gray pelted tom running towards her. She wished she could run to him but she had to turn her back on what was not supposed to be. As much as her heart told her to meet him, she made herself turn around and run away, leaving Grasspelt behind her.

**This was my 5****th**** chapter. I know it was shorter than normal but I thought that I had found a good ending. Next chapter will be from Grasspelt's point of view. :D Please keep on reviewing. :D **


	7. Chapter 6 Grasspelt: One Question

**Grasspelt's point of view again. :D **

Grasspelt was on a hunting patrol with Shellheart, her apprentice Dapplepaw and Pineear. They had made a good catch already and where on their way back to camp.

"Shellheart, can you take my catch to camp? I want to go for a small walk." Grasspelt waited for the white and ginger she-cat to answer.

"Sure… if you want to go. What are you going to do with Featherpaw?"

"He had an exhausting day yesterday so I told him training starts at sunhigh." Shellheart nodded and picked up Grasspelt's prey then she signaled the rest of the hunting patrol to follow her.

Grasspelt watched them until they rounded a dune then he ran off in the direction of twoleg place. He was going to try and find Emily and tell her that he wanted her to join the clan. He raced across the dunes with the wind in his back. His paws barely touched the ground. What seemed like only heart beats later Grasspelt arrived at the edge of twoleg place. He padded to the border at a brisk pace. Then he saw her. For some reason Emily stood at the only a paw step from the border. She looked lost and desperate, as if she were fighting a battle inside her mind.

He sped up his pace until he was running towards her and called: "Emily!"

She looked at him, amazement and longing in her eyes but all of that was covered by a shocking horror; before Grasspelt could say any more she turned tail and ran away. _Why is she so afraid of me?_ Grasspelt stopped dead in his tracks, hurt spilled out of his heart. _What have I done wrong to make her run away? _Bewilderment clouded his thoughts while hurt steadily poked his mind and scratched his heart with tiny, needle-sharp claws. Suddenly hoped filled him as he memorized her longing look. Maybe she had thought that he was another cat. He had to go and look for her.

Grasspelt made sure that nobody saw him when he crossed the border. He hoped that the border patrol wouldn't catch his scent. He padded onwards until he reached a long row of small trees. Beyond the row a thunder path stretched from one end of the horizon to the other, sometimes splitting and forking in other directions. He had never crossed a thunder path before but he had heard some senior warriors talking about it. He walked forward cautiously and shrank back as a huge monster roared past him, his pelt was gleaming in an unnatural orange and its enormous black paws thundered along the black, stinking path. He hissed and gagged at the horrible smell it left behind. A group of other monsters followed the first one, leaving Grasspelt chocking on their horrible breaths. Carefully Grasspelt checked if any more monsters were coming. He couldn't see nor hear a monster so he padded up right to the thunder path and laid a paw on the hard sticky ground. He checked again. Everything was silent. He took another step and then he pelted over the thunder path as quickly as he could. After he reached the other side safely, he padded onwards. He walked past huge twoleg dens made of stone. He walked on through the maze of twoleg nests. He tried to find Emily but he couldn't pick up her scent nor could he see anything that could have been a cat. _This is hopeless. How should I ever find Emily in this place? It is way too big. _He continued through the Twoleg nest, trying to find a way out. The sun was already high when he gave up. _I'm utterly lost; I will never find my way out without any help._ Suddenly he saw a ginger cat crossing the one of the small thunder paths that lay between two houses.

"Hey, wait!" he called for her. Grasspelt ran towards the she-cat as she stopped. "Please, can you help me? I need to find someone." Grasspelt hoped that this she-cat knew who Emily was.

"Sure what can I do?" the Ginger she-cat answered cheerfully.

"Do you know a black she-cat called Emily?" Grasspelt looked at her hopefully as recognition lit up her eyes.

"You must be Grasspelt, Emily told me about you once. What do you want here? I thought you never leave you territory."

"Please, I need to talk to Emily. Can you show me where she is?" the ginger cat nodded slowly and then signaled him to follow her.

After a short walk the she-cat stopped in front of a very high fence.

"I can't jump over it but I can try to call her, she is usually in her garden." The she-cat offered him.

"No thanks, I will jump. Thank you for helping me …" Grasspelt took a short startup run and then jumped onto the fence

"Pepper."

"Thank you Pepper." Grasspelt said from the top of the fence. He waited for a moment then he jumped down into Emily's garden.

"Emily." Grasspelt called softly. He could hear the rustling of some branches and saw Emily appear from under a big bush. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw him.

"Grasspelt, what are you doing here?" Emily's voice sounded happy but guarded.

"I am here to ask you something."

"What? What do you want to ask me?" Emily asked him expectantly.

"I am here to ask you if you want to join Oceanclan."


	8. Chapter 7: Goodbyes

**And here goes my 7th chapter of my story. Thank you Dragonstar16 for your encouraging review. After I read it I decided to continue to write on my next chapter. Hope you have fun reading it and that you keep on reviewing. :D**

Emily couldn't believe it. Grasspelt had actually followed her when she had run away. She was so happy that he had found Pepper to lead him to her. She was almost bursting with delight and other, deeper feelings. But still she knew that she shouldn't be allowed to be happy to see him. Still she couldn't help it. What surprised her and made her feel giddy was that he had asked her to join the clan. And even though her mind told her that the other cats would never accept her she didn't care. GRASSPELT HAD ASKED HER TO JOIN HIS CLAN! Her heart was dancing with joy. Grasspelt looked at her expectantly and a little worried. Only then did Emily realize that she hadn't nor shown any face expression yet.

Emily looked deep into his eyes when she answered in a whisper: "I do." She could only whisper because she was too excited for any more.

Grasspelt's expression lit up immediately and he gave out a loud purr. "I'm very happy that you chose this answer." He meowed softly.

Emily purred as well and rubbed her head against his cheek. She had missed so much.

"We should go now." Grasspelt said. Emily stiffened for a moment. _What, we're leaving already? I didn't have enough time to say good-bye to everyone. I promised Pepper to tell her when I'll leave for good and I can't leave my twolegs just like that. I know they gave me horrible food and all, but they still loved me and cared for me well. They will miss me terribly._

Grasspelt looked at her worriedly: "What's wrong? Don't you want to come?" Emily was still fighting her doubts when she looked into Grasspelt's wonderful dark green eyes. That was all it took to push the doubts away and convince her she was doing the right thing. She was going to live in the heath-land moors where she belonged. _My twolegs will find some other cat and I can still ask Grasspelt if I can say good-bye to Pepper._

"Of course I want to come." Emily meowed. Grasspelt purred and licked her between the ears. "I only want to say good-bye to Pepper."

"I guess you can do that. Come on then, you lead the way." Emily jumped over the fence and padded along a small thunderpath to reach Pepper's garden.

"Pepper? Are you there?" Emily called.

"Yes, just wait a moment." A few heartbeats later Pepper was jumping over her fence and sat down in front of Emily.

She eyed Grasspelt carefully before she asked: "What is it?"

"Pepper," Emily felt her tummy clenched with sorrow for the coming words. "I want to say good-bye to you. . . I'm going to the moors with Grasspelt."

"What, no Emily, don't leave me." Pepper let her head hang when she said: "But I guess it is no use of convincing you to stay." Pepper licked her best friend's ears and Emily nudged her affectionately in return.

"Will I ever see you again?" Pepper asked.

"I don't know." Emily answered honestly. "We might not."

"I hope we do . . . well guess it's good-bye now, huh?"

"Farewell Pepper. I hope you make friends with the new cat my housefolk may get."

"Yes, farewell Emily, I hope you'll find what you want in the moors." Emily gave her friend one last sad lick of farewell then she turned around and followed Grasspelt to the moors. She led the way to the thunder path. They crossed it without any complications and padded onwards until they reached the border to Oceanclan's territory.

Emily breathed in deeply and caught the smell she loved and had missed so much. Fresh grass mingled with heather and dry sand, juicy prey hiding in their nests or looking for food. All of this was underlined by the faint salty wind that came from the ocean and carried all the sound of the moor to Emily. Prey rustling in the undergrowth, the wind blowing over the grass, heather and sand and through the sparse trees making them swishing mysteriously, the soft rushing of the waves on wet sand. Emily looked at Grasspelt and got lost in his green eyes for a moment. Then he nodded encouragingly and together they stepped over the border into Oceanclan's territory into Emily's new live. Emily looked at Grasspelt again and knew that this was her fate.

***Sigh* I think this is a very touchy ending. In fact it is a whole touching chapter. I know it's shorter again but the ending just fit perfectly. :)**

**PLEASE, PLEASE, PWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ REVIEW! You would do me such a great favor 'cause I don't think that I should continue writing if you don't review and that would break my heart 'cause it is so much fun writing and sharing my stories but if you don't review I see no point in sharing (and writing 'cause I can think of the stories in my head and let them stay there)! :'C **

**In short form: ****I'M REALLY DESPERATE!**


	9. Chapter 8: Oceanclan

**Here comes chapter 8! :D Thank you so much for reviewing. I will reward you with an extra long chapter (2000 words?). Still so grateful for reviewing and adding to favorites. :D**

Oceanclan

Emily felt as if she was walking through the moor for the first time. It felt so different now that she knew that this would be her home. She was padding along the grassy dunes with Grasspelt leading the way. Only now did Emily realize that she had never been to Oceanclan camp before or seen any other clan cat than Grasspelt or Windstep. _I wonder what it will be like. Hopefully the clan will accept me. _Emily noticed that Grasspelt had slowed down the pace and that his whiskers were twitching nervously. _We must be near the camp now._ Her thoughts were confirmed when a strong cat scent filled here nostrils and the voices of many cats filled her ears. Grasspelt led Emily around a last dune and stopped. Emily looked over his shoulder and saw the camp that lay in the orange light of the setting sun. It was a big clearing lined by thick gorse and rhododendron bushes and surrounded by protective dunes and hills so that it would be hard to find from any other part of the territory. At the side opposite of the camp entrance the bushes grew higher and more protective. Emily guessed that the nursery would be situated there. Left of the nursery there was a big rhododendron bush in front of the gorse wall. In front of the bush was a big stone. Emily wondered what this should be for when she looked closer and saw an entrance hidden behind the shadows of the stone. _This must be the leaders den and the stone would be used for addressing the clan._ Further to the left Emily could see some cat pelts between the thick bushes and knew that she was looking at the warriors den. It had two entrances. _It is probably because the den is too long for only one. _Emily turned her attention to the other side of the camp. On the right side of the nursery Emily could see a small tunnel that lead to a small bulge of the camp clearing. She could make out three boulders that were piled up together to form a den. Right behind the boulder den Emily noticed a gap between the gorse walls and saw the sparkle of a small stream that was flowing next to the camp. _This must be the medicine cat's area. I guess it comes in very handy to have fresh water access all the time._ Next to the medicine cat's area Emily saw another thick rhododendron bush and patches of grass around it. Emily could see a few cats lying there lazily sharing tongues. A smaller, pale gray, cat approached the older ones and brought them a piece of prey. One of them, a reddish she-cat, rose stiffly to take a bite. _That must be the elders den then._ Next to the elders den Emily saw a den similar to the warriors only smaller and figured out that that must be the apprentices' den.

"Do you like it?" Grasspelt asked, disturbing her thoughts.

"Yes, it is beautiful." Emily replied. Grasspelt purred for the approval of his home.

"Let's go. We can't stay up here forever." Grasspelt gently gestured Emily to follow him. They walked down the dune to the camp entrance. A gray tom cat with blue eyes was sitting at the entrance, guarding the camp. He hadn't noticed Emily yet.

"Grasspelt, you're finally back. What kept you so long? Frozenwave said you'd be back to train Featherpaw. He's been doing elder duty the whole day."

"I'm sorry Hailfur but I had to do something very important." Hailfur looked past Grasspelt and saw Emily. His eyes widened in astonishment.

"Who is that? Why did you bring her to camp?" _At least he doesn't sound hostile._

"I'll explain everything later. I need to talk to Spraystar now." Grasspelt pushed passed past Hailfur and padded through the gorse tunnel. Emily followed him. She could feel the gorse tugging at her fur as she padded through the gorse tunnel as well. When Emily stepped out of the tunnel she saw the camp close up for the first time. She saw many cats sitting together in groups, grooming or sharing tongues with friends. Others were eating some prey or just walking through the camp. Grasspelt led Emily through the clearing over to the leaders den. Grasspelt stopped in front of the den entrance and called the leader's name.

"Spraystar?"

"Grasspelt is that you? Where have you been?"

"I need to talk to you." Grasspelt sounded nervous.

"Wait a moment, I'm coming." Emily heard the rustling of leaves as a silver gray tom padded out of the den. He turned his firm, dark blue gaze on Grasspelt and then on Emily. Emily looked at her paws quickly to avoid the evaluating stare.

"Why did you bring a stranger to the camp? Is this your excuse for being away the whole day?"

"Yes it is, Spraystar." Grasspelt bowed his head respectfully. "Her name is Emily and—"

"Well it is very nice that her name is Emily but from that and her collar I guess that she is a kittypet and you know as well as we all know that it is against the warrior code to bring a cat to camp or even allow them to b on our territory that is not inside the clan." Spraystar was still looking at Emily. "Although I must say that she looks trained, not like the normal overfed kittypets you usually see." Emily wanted to tell Spraystar that kittypets weren't overfed at all but held her tongue.

Grasspelt spoke again: "The first time I saw Emily was about a moon ago. She was hunting on our territory. I wanted to chase her away but then I saw her hunting skills that were very good for a kittypet. I decided that I could try to give her a chance and train her as a warrior." Grasspelt looked at Spraystar for any reaction but the tom remained silent. "I trained her for about a moon and she was doing very well. Soon she could hunt as well as any of our warriors. I taught her how to fight too, and she wasn't doing that bad either. That is why I asked her if she wanted to become an Oceanclan warrior. She did and that is why I brought her." Emily knew that this explanation sounded stupid. Why would a normal clan cat train a kittypet to become a warrior?

Spraystar must have thought the same thing because he asked: "Are you sure that there weren't any deeper feelings involved in this?"Slightly embarrassed Grasspelt looked onto his paws and shuffled them uncomfortably. "Why would you think that I will take her into my clan, Grasspelt? You know that we have enough warriors."

"You should see her. She is a very fine hunter." Grasspelt's answer was slightly muffled through his fur.

"Well if it is true what you say then I will give her a chance to prove herself. If she is only another hungry mouth to feed, she must leave."

"Yes, Spraystar."

Spraystar turned around and jumped onto the big rock: "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join her beneath the Big Rock for a clan meeting." Spraystar's call rang clearly along the clearing and soon all cats had gathered around the Big Rock.

"As you may have noticed Grasspelt is back however he is not alone. With him is a cat called Emily." Emily tried to avoid the curious stares that were directed on her.

"Grasspelt has trained her for the last moon-" Yowls of protest rang around the clearing and swallowed Spraystar's words. Some cats hissed accusingly at Grasspelt and Emily could here an older cat mutter something about the warrior code.

Spraystar yowled loudly to silence the caterwaul: "After talking to Grasspelt I decided to give Emily a chance because Grasspelt said he trained her well. However as soon as she doesn't prove herself able to be a warrior she will be sent home immediately." Protests started to rise again.

"Why would you let a cat from outside join the clan?"

"Grasspelt should be punished for being a kittypet!"

"What is that shiny thing she is wearing around her neck?"

"It looks like a kittypet collar."

"She's a kittypet!"

"Silence!" Spraystar cut in with authority. "We will take into the clan only for a test. Before we do that we will test if she is able to hunt and fight and Grasspelt will be punished: From the next sunrise on he is not allowed to leave the clan for a quarter moon and care for the elders while he is tied to the camp." The clan seemed satisfied by that. There were only a few more questions.

"Who will test her?"

"Will she get a clan name?"

"We will all test her and if she proves to be a worthy warrior for a moon she will get her clan name." Spraystar jumped of the Big-Rock to end the meeting. The cats started to spread out again and separated into different groups to discuss what they had just heard. Suddenly a cat padded up to Emily. She had a light brown pelt and purple-blue eyes.

"Hello, my name is Heathertail" Emily was surprised but also relieved that at least one cat didn't seem to be hostile. "Come one, I'll show you where to sleep." Heathertail trotted to the warriors den and entered through one of the openings in the bush.

"Here, you can sleep next to Grasspelt's nest. Mine is right next to yours as well. We'll just have to get some moss to make it more comfortable." Suddenly Windstep came in. He looked at Emily swiftly then he turned on to Heathertail:

"You should bring her to the training space. We will test her now." Then he left without another look.

"Well let's go then, shouldn't we?" Heathertail led Emily out of the camp to the training space. It was a clearing half covered in sand, half in grass with dunes and grassy hills surrounding it. Almost the whole clan had gathered to watch Emily being tested. Emily could see Grasspelt sitting at the edge of the clearing. Next to him was a pretty silver tabby with ocean-green-blue eyes. In the middle of the clearing sat Spraystar and two other toms. One of them had a reddish pelt and warm yellow eyes the other one was a brown tabby with darker stripes and hard pale green eyes. When Emily stood in front of them Heathertail backed away and sat down next to Windstep. Spraystar was looking at Emily in a testing way.

"You are here to get tested on your skills in fighting and hunting. First you will fight with Needlestripe, our best fighter." _Why do I have to fight against the best one?_ As if Spraystar had read her mind he said:

"He can evaluate you the best. You shall begin now." Spraystar and the red tom backed away to leave Emily and the brown tabby alone in the clearing. They circled each other slowly, looking for a chance to attack. A wave of nervousness overcame Emily. _I can't fight in front of all these warriors. All of them are probably better than me. _

Suddenly Needlestripe attacked. He jumped forward and swiped a paw with sheathed claws at her face. Emily could barely jump back in time. She ducked and dived for Needlestripe's legs but the broad shouldered tom saw it coming and jumped. Emily landed on the sand and slid to the side almost getting squashed by the landing tom. She whisked around quickly and swiped her paw at his face but missed him. Needlestripe stepped forward too quickly for Emily and raked his paws over her flank while he ran past her. Emily jumped around to face him. She had an idea. She ducked and ran forward as if wanting to dive for Needlestripe's legs again but just before she reached him Emily jumped up and landed squarely on Needlestripe's broad shoulders. Her crashing weight forced the tom onto the ground but before Emily could do anything Needlestripe flipped on his back and squashed Emily under him. Her breath was knocked out of her lungs and she desperately scrabbled at Needlestripe's back to get him of. The tom jumped onto his paws again and faced Emily. _I have to think of something better to beat him._ Needlestripe whisked forward and rammed into Emily. His weight knocked her of her paws and sent her flying to the edge of the clearing where she landed heavily. Before Emily could stand up Needlestripe was on top of her and bit down on her neck just hard enough to make her feel it but not too hard so that she wouldn't get injured. Emily tried to shake him of but she couldn't.

"Stop!" Spraystar called and Needlestripe let go of Emily. "That was quit well already, but Emily, you still have to work on your technique a little. What you are going to do next is rather predictable. One more try."

This time Emily attacked by running past Needlestripe and racking her paws along his flank, just as he had done. Needlestripe turned around fast and cuffed her over the ears then he hit her muzzle with his paws. Emily was a little dazzled. Needlestripe used his advantage and kicked her in her belly which sent her flying again. But this time Emily was prepared. Before Needlestripe could jump onto her again she jumped up and charged at him. She ran with her belly low to the ground. She had another plan and this one was better. As expected Needlestripe jumped high into the air again. As fast as she could Emily whisked around and jumped as high as possible. As she had hoped for she jumped higher than Needlestripe so she could land on him in mid-air and send him crashing down with both their weights together. _I knew that the high fence was good for something_. Emily thought with satisfaction. Emily was just about to sink her teeth into Needlestripe's back when he flipped around and twisted to face her. He ducked and pushed his front paws under chest. Then he pushed and Emily hit the ground hard. Before she knew it she had Needlestripe's teeth on her neck again.

"Good, but try not to land on a back of a cat that can easily flip you of." He whispered into Emily's ear before stepping of her.

"Good try Emily, if you still work on some moves you will be a good fighter." Spraystar said while walking towards her. "Now Sungaze, our deputy, and Sparrowwing, our best hunter, will hunt with you. You will be a hunting patrol at the same time so make sure you bring enough prey." Sungaze, the red tom, stepped forward and beckoned another cat to come into the clearing as well. Sparrowwing was a lean, light brown tabby tom with pale blue eyes.

The three cats padded up the dunes and further onward until they reached another, smaller clearing.

Sungaze turned to Emily: "You will hunt anything you can. We will watch you from some distance and catch some own prey. Work hard because this is your first real task to serve the clan." Emily nodded and walked out of the clearing. She opened her mouth to catch even the faintest scent the hung on the breeze. She could hear the rustling of a bird between the heather. Slowly she crouched down and silently crept forward. Now she could see the bird. It was a small sea gull. Emily continued creeping forward. Now she was only a fox length away and the bird still didn't notice her as it was busily hunting its own prey of little bugs. Emily bunched her muscles and jumped. She held the bird down and quickly killed it before it could make a sound. _I might not be a good fighter however I'm an even better hunter._ Emily lay the bird down at the side of a dune and kicked sand over it so that it wouldn't be taken by other hunters.

Emily concentrated on her surrounding again. She walked around the dunes silently like a shadow, her fur perfect fur hunting in the night. She could even stand on top of the dunes without being noticed because her fur blended in perfectly with the night sky. Suddenly she heard flapping paw steps on the sandy underground. She looked around and saw big rabbit nibbling at some grass and jumping around by times. Emily swiftly closed on the rabbit and was about to pounce when the wind turned and carried her scent to the rabbit. The rabbit froze and so did Emily. Then the rabbit twitched its nose and fled. Emily pelted after it. She would never let this fat piece of fresh kill escape. Her chase reminded her of the first time she had met Grasspelt. At the thought of Grasspelt she quickened her pace even more. It felt like she flew across the moors, her paws barely touching the ground. Suddenly she saw a rabbit hole. The rabbit was running straight at it. _Now or never._ Emily bunched her muscles and jumped as far as she could. She landed in front of the rabbit. As quickly as she could she whisked around and pounced at the clueless rabbit. Her claws got caught in its fur so she could pull the squirming prey towards her. She sank her teeth into the rabbit's neck and could feel the bones crack beneath her jaw as she bit through the rabbit's spine and killed it. Proudly Emily let out a purr of satisfaction as she buried the rabbit under a pile of sand.

When she finally returned to the clearing where she waited for Sungaze and Sparrowwing she had another two birds and a mouse. Her kill lay next to her in a pile. She opened her mouth to see if she could detect any of the warriors by scent before she could see them. She caught the smell of Sparrowwing just before he rounded a dune. He was carrying a rabbit and two birds. He nodded at Emily approvingly and set off to get the rest of his kill. When Sparrowwing came back with another bird, Sungaze arrived as well, carrying three mice and a morsel.

"You have done well Emily. I saw you catch the rabbit, it was an amazing jump." Sungaze looked at her warmly. She liked Sungaze a lot already.

"Yes you are a fine hunter." Sparrowwing added.

"Thank you." Emily lowered her head in respect.

"Let's take the prey back to camp. And I think we should hurry as we need to walk twice.

Back in camp they were greeted with purrs of delight when they came back with their prey. They quickly brought back the rest of the prey as well and then they could finally eat something. Emily had missed the taste of fresh prey just as well as everything else. She had only tried it twice because Grasspelt didn't want to risk getting caught by the scent of eaten prey. Now Emily chose the rabbit that Sparrowwing had caught. It was a little smaller than hers. She looked for Grasspelt and saw him sitting between the warriors den and the Big Rock. She padded over to him and sat down laying the rabbit in front of his paws.

"Do you want to share this with me?" she asked. Grasspelt nodded and licked her cheek. Then he took a bite and waited until Emily had done the same.

After they had finished the rabbit, they groomed each other and shared tongues.

"I am so happy that you are here in the clan with me. I thought of you every time I shared tongues with some body and wished that it were you." Grasspelt purred. Emily purred as well and leaned onto Grasspelt, feeling his body next to hers.

It was already past moon high when they finally went into the warriors den to sleep. Somebody had prepared a nest for Emily. She guessed that it must have been Heathertail. Purring happily she lay down next to Grasspelt and pressed her flank against his. She slowly drifted to sleep with his sweet smell in her nose. _This is where I belong. I have finally found my home._

**OMG! 3415 words! I guess that I rewarded you enough for your reviews.**

**Hold on a moment. . . I'm just panicking because I don't know how many words you expect me to write when I get even more reviews. (Now don't even dare to think that this means that you should stop writing reviews, 'cause like you have maybe remembered I am in an unstable state of mind right now when it comes to missing reviews and we don't want that do we?)**

**So: No reviews, no story!**

**PS: I have decided on a warrior name for Emily: Shadowflame (because of her black fur that glows red in the sun). Do you like it or do you think that I should give her another name. (She only gets her name after the one moon test-time so if you think she shouldn't make the test then she won't have a name).**

**I personally like the name.**


	10. Chapter 9: Rogues

**And here goes chapter nine. Thanks a lot for your reviews. I guess my mind is beginning to reestablish itself very slowly. I haven't decided yet if I should make Emily part of the clan in this chapter, the next one or at all. Well we'll see, won't we?**

Emily woke up, feeling the sun warming the parts of her fur where it broke through the branches of a big bush. She could see little bits of dust flying through the rays of sun that broke through branches. _Where am I? And why does everything hurt so much?_ Emily turned around and saw Grasspelt lying next to her. _Grasspelt? What is he doing here?_ She blinked couple of times to focus her eyes and to her astonishment she saw even more cats lying in their nests made of moss. Then she remembered. Grasspelt had taken her with him to Oceanclan camp. There Spraystar had allowed her to stay if she passed a test. Fighting and hunting. That would explain why her limbs ached so much. Needlestripe _was_ a very fine fighter. She stretched one last time and padded out onto the clearing. She could see some elders lying under the big rhododendron bush, sharing tongues. Some other warriors sat down in front of the warriors den and shared some prey. Two younger apprentices where play fighting in the middle of the clearing. They almost slammed into three kits, a dark brown dappled she-kit, a pale tortoiseshell she-kit and a red she-kit, that where standing there to watch them. A dappled tortoiseshell queen with green eyes hissed at the apprentices and herded her kits back into the nursery. Suddenly the red kit broke away to watch the fight again, its blue eyes gleaming with delight.

"Bluekit, come back here!" the dappled queen called. Bluekit was too fixed on the fight to react. The queen sighed and walked over to Bluekit, picked her up by the scruff and carried her protesting daughter into the nursery behind her sisters. Emily purred with amusement.

Emily could hear her tummy rumbling and walked over to the fresh-kill pile to pick out a small mouse. She ate it quickly and groomed herself afterwards. Emily heard a rustling in the warriors den behind her and saw Heathertail walking out and stretching luxuriously. Emily greeted her with a purr.

"Hello Heathertail."

"Oh, hello Emily. Have you slept well?" Heathertail licked her chest fur and looked back at Emily.

"Yes I have. Thank you for making my nest."

"You don't need to thank me for that." Heathertail stretched yet again and padded over to the fresh-kill pile and chose a juicy-looking sea gull. Sungaze now stepped out of the warriors den as well. He walked over to a gray tom and spoke with him. Then he turned back to face the clearing.

"Shellheart," he called out for a white she-cat with ginger splotches. "Get Dapplepaw and take her on a hunting patrol. Hailfur will lead it." Shellheart nodded and disappeared into the apprentices den.

"Emily, you will join Hailfur's hunting patrol as well." Emily nodded as well and padded over to the gray tom, Sungaze had been talking to, to wait for Shellheart and her apprentice. Soon Shellheart was being followed out of the apprentices den by a dark brown, dappled she-cat. Hailfur waved his tail to signal his patrol to follow him.

They were near the training place when Hailfur told them to spread out.

"Dapplepaw what do you smell . . . . ?" Emily turned back to camp because she had smelled a rabbit track around there. She slowly crept forward and saw the bobbing white tail between some gorse bushes. Silently she sneaked closer to the rabbit and jumped. She caught the rabbit and killed immediately. Then she buried it under some sand and grass and weaseled through the dunes in search of more prey.

At sun high they returned to camp with their prey and added it to the fresh-kill pile that was beginning to fill again. Emily was hungry again and chose a gull she had caught. She looked out for Grasspelt and saw him giving a fat rabbit to the elders. Emily padded over to him and nudged him fondly. Then she laid the prey down at his paws and took another gull from the fresh-kill pile for herself. Then she crouched down next to him and ate her gull. After they had both finished their gull they shared tongues.

"How is your first day as a warrior so far?" Grasspelt asked between licks on her head.

"It is fun until now. I was on a hunting patrol with Hailfur, Shellheart and her apprentice Dapplepaw. By the way, do you have an apprentice?"

"Yes, his name is Featherpaw. He is out with his brother Sealpaw and his mentor Rainflower right now. It is a pity that I'm tide to camp and can't train him right now." Emily could feel a stab of guilt in her chest but Grasspelt must have sensed it because he said: "Don't worry it's not your fault." He let his tongue rasp over her back. Emily purred and lay her head on her paws to take a small nap in the warming sun that seemed to seep into every corner of her body and spread its wonderful warmth along her pelt. Under the gentle strokes on Grasspelt's tongue she fell asleep.

She woke when the sun was setting. Grasspelt was still next to her and rose to his paws now. Emily gave herself a good stretch and watched the camp. Bluekit was playing outside with her sisters again.

"Come on Greenkit, you have to attack me. You are an invading badger." Bluekit called at her pale tortoiseshell sister.

"But I don't want to be a badger. I want to be a warrior like you and Tallkit."

"You can be a warrior later." Tallkit, the dark brown, dappled kit, said and jumped at her sister. They tumbled over and rolled over the sandy ground.

"Tallkit, Greenkit, Bluekit, it's time to go to sleep."

"But I don't want to sleep." Bluekit wailed and sat down in protest. Tallkit and Greenkit joined their sister.

"You should listen to Darkdapple if I were you. You never know maybe she won't let you out tomorrow when you are naughty kits." A dark, reddish-brown tom had come to the kits and gently pushed them forwards with his paw.

"Okay daddy, we will go." Tallkit said and quickly lead her sisters into the nursery.

"Hello Pineear." Darkdapple said and gently liked her mate's ear.

Pineear purred and said: "You should better go in to watch our kits. Nobody knows into what kind of trouble they will get if they are not supervised." Darkdapple nodded and vanished into the nursery.

"Emily." Sungaze called her. "You will go on border patrol with Glowingsoul, Sandclaw and Windstep."

Glowingsoul was the pretty silver tabby with the ocean-colored eyes that had been sitting next to Grasspelt while Emily had fought Needlestripe. Next to her was a sand-colored tom which Emily guessed, must be Sandclaw. Emily padded over to them. Glowingsoul shot a friendly glance and Sandclaw nodded at her. Together they waited for Windstep. He appeared from the warriors den. He nodded at Sandclaw and Glowingsoul and gave Emily an expressionless look. Glowingsoul gave the sign to go and led her patrol out of camp. They turned north and soon reached the border that bordered a wide space full of grass. They padded onwards until Sandclaw suddenly stopped and sniffed suspiciously.

"It smells like rogue. They crossed our border recently and might still be near." Glowingsoul looked at him and nodded. Sandclaw beckoned Windstep to follow him and disappeared between the gorse bushes. Glowingsoul padded up to a small tree and climbed onto it. She stood still and looked around then she jumped down again and gestured Emily to follow.

"Are there any rogues on the territory?" Emily asked.

"Not right now but there is a group of rogues that always cause trouble and steal our prey." Glowingsoul sounded furious and her neck fur bristled. Soon Snadclaw and Windstep joined them again. They finished their patrol without any other major insidents and returned back to camp shortly before moon high.

Emily's paws ached from the lot of walking and her tail was drooping with exhaustion. She padded into the warriors den and curled up titly in her nest. She fell asleep immediately and slept through a dreamless night.

**As you could see I decide to let Emily be Emily for a while longer. I have decide that I will stay with the name Shadowflame/fire. It sound cool and dangerous but pretty at the same time. Please keep on reviewing. **

**I have a deal that you already understood: You write for me (reviews) and write for you (the story). I think that that's a good deal. And because you all participate in this deal so well I will try to update as fast as possible. :D**

**See ya.**

**PS: Did you notice that this one cat has the same name as I do? I actually have a story for her too but she is a tiny bit of a Mary Sue in there and it is a big copy of the secong warrior series. :D Tell me if I should write it anyway (I could try to make Glowingsoul not that Mary Sue-ish.)**

**PPS: Please take part in my warrior cat contest it is fun and only on task two (since a very long time do to lack of reviews).**

**Advertising your own stories in your other own story is O.K.**


	11. Chapter 10 anniversary: Greenkit

**YEAH! The 10th anniversary of Emily's Fate (I count by chapters). Isn't this a reason to celebrate? I give all of you a Grasspelt, Emily or whoever you like plushie hug. :D By the way, does anyone like Windstep? This is a serious question 'cause actually I had him in my mind as a very nice and calm cat but then he turned grumpy (he's Grasspelt's best friend, you know). **

**Attention: From now on I won't the cats anymore because Emily knows them all so if you want to now who is who and how they look like then look at the allegiances. **

Half a moon had already past and Emily felt more at home in Oceanclan than she had ever felt anywhere else before. As usually she woke up and padded to the freshkill pile to eat something. Then she groomed herself or talked to Grasspelt, Heathertail or other warriors. Then she would either go on hunting patrol, border patrol or stay in camp and help with whatever was to do. Sometimes she also took care if Darkdapple's kits when the queen needed a time out or went hunting like now.

"Emily, can you take care of my kits for a while?"

"Of course." Darkdapple nodded gratefully and walked over to Pineear. Pineear nodded at Emily and then he and Darkdapple walked out of camp.

"Emily!" Bluekit ran out of the nursery and crashed into her at full speed. Tallkit was also running towards her and Greenkit followed more cautiously.

"What do we want to play today?" Tallkit asked, bouncing up and down with excitement.

"I have an idea. Emily can be the big bad fox and we have to defend the camp!" Bluekit squeaked.

"But we are playing that every time." Greenkit griped.

"Yes but its fun." Bluekit defended her idea. Greenkit sulkily turned her back towards them and silently played with a small leaf.

"Come on Greenkit, don't be a spoilsport." Tallkit said and nudged her sister encouragingly.

"Yes Greenkit, come on. We can also play something else if you want to." Emily said. Bluekit was about to protest but Emily swiftly slapped her tail over the red kit's mouth.

"Can we play hunting or hide and seek?" Greenkit asked and looked up at Emily with big amber eyes that were sprinkled with green dots.

"Sure, what do you want to hunt?" Emily purred.

"I want to catch a mouse." Greenkit declared and crouched down in an almost perfect hunters crouch. "O-or can you teach us how to jump as high as you can?" Greenkit's eyes glimmered with excitement.

"Oh yes please." Bluekit and Tallkit said from one mouth.

"Sure if you want to." Emily said and looked for a good place to practice. "Let's go over there." Emily walked over to the space between the nursery and medicine cat's clearing. She showed the three kits how she had learned how to jump and told them to reach her tail that she was holding higher every time the three could reach it. Soon Bluekit and Tallkit were bored, Tallkit because it was too easy for her with the long legs of hers and Bluekit because she was bored and wanted to battle. But Greenkit kept on trying with an unbelievable determination until she could barely lift a paw when Darkdapple and Pineear came back. When Greenkit saw her mother she pelted over to her and jumped around their paws in excitement.

"What did you do to Greenkit to make her so excited? Normally she's never that exhilarated." Astonishment and joy lay in Darkdapple's eyes.

"She taught me how to jump high." Greenkit said still bouncing. "I want Emily to be my mentor." Emily purred at Greenkit and explained the puzzled Darkdapple what she had done. After Emily had finished Darkdapple herded her kits into the nursery. Emily looked at the still excited Greenkit when Pineear spoke to her.

"I want to thank you Emily."

"What for?" Emily looked at him surprised.

"You know Greenkit. Her feelings were always turned inwards. Darkdapple and I thought that there might be something wrong with her because she would never talk to anybody else except you and us. It was even more conspicuous because Bluekit, and sometimes Tallkit as well, were so different to her. You have really helped us a great deal, Emily, and I want to thank for that. Who knows, maybe you will be Greenkit's mentor when the time comes."

"Thank you, Pineear." Emily felt flattered by his praise. Pineear nodded on last time and then walked over to the fresh-kill pile. The hunting patrol had just returned and with it Grasspelt. She looked out for him. He was just loading off his kill on the pile and took a morsel for himself. Emily padded over to him and waited until he had finished.

When he had she asked: "Do you want to go for a walk with me?"

"Sure." Grasspelt said and rose to his paws. They padded out of the camp and walked around the territory aimlessly. The wind was blowing fresh air through the more and ruffled their furs slightly. A faint smell of salt lay in the air and refreshed Emily.

"Emily, have you ever seen the ocean before?" Grasspelt asked while they were padding down a hill. Surprised Emily realized that she hadn't.

"No."

"Should I show you then?" Grasspelt meowed rather pleased at the thought that nobody had shown Emily the ocean before which meant that he could do it. Grasspelt led Emily through the dunes. The smell of salt grew stronger and Emily could hear the rushing of the crashing waves clearly now. Together they climbed one last dune. Emily stopped and looked around in astonishment. They ocean was huge and as hard as Emily tried, she couldn't see the other end. The waves were of a magnificent azure blue, only the top was dyed in pink and orange from the setting sun. Right in front of the sun there was almost no wore blue left and the pink turned into a deep red. Above the ocean Emily could see the first stars shining and between them the thin claw-shaped moon. A few pink clouds that floated above the sky seemed to be pulled towards the sun. The steady sound of the rolling waves on the sand calmed Emily down and soothed whatever disturbing thoughts there were.

Emily sighed and leaned against Grasspelt. Together they watched the sun go down and wave the last brilliant red streaks of light in goodbye. Now the ocean was of a deep, dark blue. Only the moon and the stars shone now and casted their silver lights on the landscape, making the wave crest and the wet sand shine silver.

"I think it is time to go now." Grasspelt whispered and slowly walked down the dune. Emily closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air once more before turning around as well.

Back in camp they shared the last rabbit and went to sleep.

**Did you like my 10th chapter? I worked hard on describing the ocean what do you think of it? I have decided to make Emily part of the clan but I still haven't decided on a warrior name. That is why I decided to let you people vote. The two names are:**

**Shadowflame**

**Shadowfire**

**(I know it is the same basically but I still want to know what you think, I would go fire Shadowflame I guess because it sounds more female and Emily-like. But please don't let my opinion influence your vote, I need honest answers and you help because it hard to decide between the two names.)**


	12. Chapter 11: Shadowflame

**Here comes chap. 11 and a personal message to **_**SnakefangxRosefire4eva**_**:**

**I'm **_**really **_**sorry that I won't use your name idea but I promise, no I swear, that you will be allowed to choose the name of someone else important or distribute to the story in some other way. (I already know who you will name but I can't tell or I'd ruin the story). Please don't be angry at me and forgive me. (If it comforts you to know: I asked my sister and my friend and they all said that Shadowfire is a really cool name but it just goes better with a tom than a she-cat and as Emily is rather female. . .). Please forgive me. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own warriors but I took the warrior ceremony words from the book because I can't think of good ones myself.**

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join here beneath the Big Rock for a clan meeting." Spraystar's call rang loud and clearly across the clearing and soon all the cats gathered under the shining moon, around the Big Rock to find out why the meeting took place.

"At the beginning of this moon a cat joined our clan to become a warrior. We have tested her on her abilities and loyalty in any way we could think of. Now, after a moon, she has proven herself worthy to be a warrior and I give her my allowance to join our clan as a full member. Emily, would you please step forward." Excited meows rushed through the camp like a wave in the ocean but were quickly quieted down by other cats to listen to more. Emily's whisker where quivering with excitement and her tail was trembling as she left her place between Grasspelt and Heathertail and padded into the middle of the semi-circle of cats. Spraystar jumped down of the Big Rock and stood before Emily. He looked at her for a moment before continuing.

"Emily, you have come to our clan with the great wish to become a warrior. We have given you one moon to prove yourself and in this time you have shown us that you are a hard-working, loyal cat. You have followed the warrior code, fed the clan and found new friends. Now the time has come for you to be rewarded for what you have done and to be granted your greatest wish." Spraystar took a deep breath before he continued with the ceremonial words.

"I Spraystar, leader of Oceanclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this young cat. She has proven herself worthy to become a warrior and trained hard to understand the noble way of your code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Emily, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your life?" _This is what I have been waiting for since I was born. _Emily's neck fur was bristling with excitement as she answered with trembling with paws:

"I do."

"Then by the powers of Starclan I will give you your warrior name: Emily, from this day on you will be known as Shadowflame. Starclan honors your loyalty, warm heart and hunting skill, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Oceanclan." Spraystar rested his muzzle on Shadowflame's head and she licked his shoulder in return. Then she backed away and looked around the clan. She could hear the cats chant her name her name:

"Shadowflame, Shadowflame, Shadowflame!" The cats were all coming forward now to great with her new name. Shadowflame was surprised when Windstep came up to her.

"Hello Shadowflame, a nice name you've got there." Then he nodded and turned away. Shadowflame didn't have a long time to muse about Windstep's sudden change of attitude towards her because Heathertail came up to her to greet her with her name.

"Hey Shadowflame, now you're finally a true Oceanclan cat. I'm so happy for you and you got a good name too." Heathertail was interrupted when Greenkit and her sisters jumped at her.

"Shadowflame, Shadowflame!" they chanted and through her to the ground.

"I want to be a warrior too." Shadowflame could hear Bluekit meow to her mother.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait another three moons, my dear." Darkdapple purred.

"But I want to be a warrior _now_." Bluekit wailed. Darkdapple just murmured some comforting words and Pushed Bluekit towards the nursery.

After Shadowflame had finally freed herself from the kits' attack she walked over to the fresh-kill pile where she had seen Grasspelt. He looked up as she came closer and greeted her as well.

"Hello my wonderful Shadowflame. Do you fancy sharing a rabbit with me?"

"I'd loved to." Shadowflame purred and followed Grasspelt to a grass patch between the leaders and the warriors den. They ate the rabbit together and then they groomed each other.

While Grasspelt licked her ear she thought that so much had changed for her throughout the last moon. She looked around the camp. Spraystar was sharing prey with Sungaze and other senior warriors. Windstep was gently sharing tongues with Heathertail. Darkdapple's kits where playing with Tangleleaf's kits, Shortkit and Petalkit. Thornfur and Stripedpelt, who had been made warriors only a quarter moon ago, shared two birds and seemed to be at the brink of play fighting. Glowingsoul was lying in front of the warriors den with Sparrowwing and licked her slightly swollen belly. Rosedapple was busily nestling around in the medicine cats clearing and was assisted by her apprentice Gullflight.

She sighed with satisfaction. This was her home, where she belonged. A cool breeze rustled through the camp and reminded Shadowflame that leaf-bare wasn't far. Soon the first leaves would touch the ground and the wind on the moors would turn harsher and the ocean would change colors from blue to gray. Prey would be harder to find and Shadowflame would have to prove that she was worthy to be a warrior even in the hardest seasons.

"We should go to sleep now."Grasspelt meowed and padded over to warriors den. Shadowflame followed him and together they curled up next to each other with their noses tucked in the other ones fur. Emily recalled all what had happened since she first set foot to this camp and figured out that she would be a worthy warrior no matter what season or danger came to challenge the clan. She was an Oceanclan warrior now.

**Did like it? I hope so. Again I'm really sorry that I didn't use your name**_** SnakefangxRosefire4eva**_** and if you want me to I will send you my idea for who/what you can name via PM. Just tell me in the review (but I warn you, it might ruin the story for you and you would have to wait some time until your named object will be part of the story). I have decided that I will wait with my next chapter until I have got 2-3 reviews. So please review if you want to know what is going to happen next.**

_**Weird voice in my head: You know that it is unfair.**_

**Me: No it isn't, other people do that too.**

_**Voice: Yes, but what is going to going to happen if nobody reviews and just reads, eh?**_

**Me: If they read then they are bond to read the last note as well and review on my story, won't they?**

_**Voice: But what if they don't?**_

**Me: Then they will never get to hear the end of the story.**

_**Voice: What if they don't want to? They haven't left any reviews on your last story.**_

**Me: ***Gasps*** Yes, but you don't have to review every time. **

_**Voice: They don't?**_

**Me: No.**

_**Bad Voice: If you say so…**_

**Me: They will review. I know it.**

_**Very bad voice: Well I will already prepare for mental desperateness in case they don't.**_

**Me: You are a very evil voice, stop insulting my readers.**

_**Evil voice: I'm not insulting them, just saying what might come…**_

**Me: No, stop, you're destroying my optimism.**

_**Evil voice: Muhahaha!**_

**Me: ***Hits on the head*** Get out of my head you voice. Out, out! ***Continues hitting while her cat stares at her in very weird but knowing way*

_**Evil voice: Ha ha ha ha!**_

**Me: Noooooooooo…!**


	13. Chapter 12: Hunting

**Whoop, whoop! Chapter 12! Thanks for all the happy reviewers. **

Shadowflame woke up and padded out of the den. She stretched luxuriously and padded over to the pile to get some fresh kill. She wondered what she would do today, hunting or border patrol. Or she might take care of Darkdapple's kits again. They were almost four moons now and started to be really nerve raking.

She could see Spraystar padding out of his den and going over to Sungaze to talk to him. When he was done Sungaze walked over to Shadowflame. _What does he want?_

"Shadowflame, would you please get Sparrowwing, Shellheart, Heathertail, Iceheart, Rainflower and Grasspelt? And tell all of them to get their apprentices too."

"Yes, sure." Shadowflame said wondering what Sungaze wanted.

After Shadowflame had woken up all the cats Sungaze had asked for and told them that they should get their apprentices too, she sat down in the middle of the clearing and waited. Sparrowwing and Iceheart, who both had no apprentice waited with her. Soon the other cats joined them with their apprentices. Grasspelt nuzzled Shadowflame in greeting and Featherpaw, his apprentice nodded happily at her.

"Do you know what we are going to do?" Shadowflame asked Grasspelt.

"I think that Sungaze is sending us on a hunting mission."

"A hunting mission?"

"You'll see soon." Right then Sungaze padded up to them.

"As you might have guessed already, I have decided to send you onto a hunting mission." Dapplepaw, Shellheart's apprentice let out an excited squeak. Sungaze purred amused and continued talking.

"Sparrowwing, you will lead the mission and I expect you to be back in a quarter of a moon, the latest."

"Yes, Sungaze." Sparrowwing replied and nodded to show that he had understood. Sungaze stepped back and Sparrowwing signaled his patrol to follow him. Shadowflame was getting even more curious now that she heard how long their mission might take.

Sparrowwing led the patrol in the direction of the ocean and set up a brisk pace. Soon they reached the ocean and Shadowflame could hear the familiar crashing of the waves on the shore. She looked at the ocean and could see that the water was very far out, leaving a wide free space of wet sand. Sparrowwing stopped and turned to his patrol.

"Wave-high will be upon us soon, so I expect you all to stay close to the shore. This is important for every one of you." He looked at the apprentices. "Mentors should make sure that all their apprentices follow the rules, we don't want to have any drowning cats." With this he set off and raced to the tidelands.

"Is this our hunting mission? Shouldn't it take lea than until moon high?" Shadowflame turned to Grasspelt, puzzled.

"As soon as the sun rises we will take the first opportunity of wave-down to reach a sandbank that will keep us from drowning until the next wave-down. From there we will then walk to a small island were we stay until the seals come to this island. The seals are our main goal. As soon as we caught one, we will head to camp as soon as the ocean lets us." Grasspelt flicked his tail and slowly walked down the last dune, signaling Featherpaw to follow. Shadowflame followed as well. _We are going to catch seals! Wow, I never thought that this was possible. No wonder you need eleven cats for this._ She sped up her pace to catch up with Grasspelt and Featherpaw.

"Now Featherpaw, do you know how to hunt on the tidelands?" Grasspelt asked his apprentice. Featherpaw shook his head.

"You see those sea gulls over there, all flying over one space?"

"Yes." Featherpaw nodded.

"Well those gulls are hunting as well, but they are hunting for shells. Can you eat shells?"

"Yes but they are hard to open but otherwise very healthy." Featherpaw said, proud to know the correct answer.

"Yes, and if we are lucky we can catch the gull and the shell. If we have no luck then we will just know where the shells are and have to dig them out."

"Okay." Featherpaw said and dashed off until he was padding next to his brother Sealpaw. Grasspelt and Shadowflame set up a quicker pace to catch up with the rest of the hunting patrol. Shadowflame watched carefully as Iceheart crept up on the gulls. His white fur coated in wet sand so that it wouldn't distract the birds. He slowly prowled forward and waited totally stiff until a bird was close enough for him to catch. He lunged forward and pinned the bird to the ground. The other birds flew up startled.

_So that is how you catch things on the tidelands._ She looked for a muddy patch of wet sand a rolled in it to camouflage herself. Then she stalked forward slowly so that she wouldn't startle any birds. She waited until the birds had all settled down again and busily hunted their own prey.

Shadowflame fixed her eyes on a big gull a little away off the flock of birds. She stalked it slowly and was soon in jumping reach of it. Just as she wanted to jump she could see Grasspelt signaling at her out of the corner of the eye. She looked at him and saw him gesturing at Sparrowwing and the other cats. They were all circling in on the swarm of birds and all their eyes were fixed on Sparrowwing. At a signal from Sparrowwing all the cats jumped at once.

Shadowflame stretched out her paws to grasp a fleeing bird. Her claws got caught in the bird's feathers and she could pull it out of the air. She slammed her paws to the ground and broke the bird's neck. She could see that almost all the other cats had caught birds as well. Only Spottedpaw and Sealpaw hadn't caught any birds.

"You'll catch one the next time." Rainflower reassured her dark gray apprentice.

"But now we can look for shells, can't we?" Sealpaw looked up at his mentor and Rainflower nodded.

"Yeah, I'm going to find the most shells." Spottedpaw boasted and began digging for shells. Her mentor Shellheart began digging as well and soon the whole patrol was looking for shells. Every time an apprentice found a shell they boasted and insisted on showing their friends which kept them from digging out more shells and in the end the apprentices had the least shells.

"I think this is enough hunting for today. Carry the shells away quickly before they dig themselves in again." Sparrowwing said and picked up some shells and the gull with his mouth. The other shells were rolled over the sand with his paws.

The other cats loaded themselves with prey equally and made their way to a small group of gorse bushes at the edge of a dune. They put down their prey behind a wall of heather and gorse then Sparrowwing advised Heathertail, Spottedpaw and Sealpaw to bring the half of the gulls and half of the shells to the clan. The rest of the patrol each took a gull to eat.

"What do we do with the shells?" Shadowflame asked.

"We will dig a hole until we reach the water and then we will put them into the water. They are like a reserve prey if we don't catch any other prey." Grasspelt answered. "Come on we have finished our prey so we can start digging already." Grasspelt and Shadowflame stood up and Grasspelt where the best place for the hole was. They started digging and reached the water after a while. The whole was about a tail length deep. Shadowflame was about to put the shells into the hole when Grasspelt held her back.

"Wait, the shells are still alive so if we put them in just like that they will dig themselves their own hole and vanish. Here I'll show you what to do." Grasspelt carefully broke of some gorse branches and laid them on the bottom of the hole.

"This way the shells will get water but they can't escape." Together they got all the shells and put them into the hole. In the end Grasspelt picked some more gorse and put over the whole then he put on some sand and a little more gorse. It looked like a weird gorse bush now.

"We do this to keep the gulls away. They wouldn't miss an opportunity to get some juicy shell flesh." Grasspelt explained

"When are we going to hunt the next time?"

"When the water is down again. Or do you fancy hunting under the surface of the ocean?" Grasspelt teased.

"You could show me how to do this, oh great Grasspelt." Shadowflame hissed playfully and ducked as Grasspelt swiped a paw at her face. She laughed and ran down to the shore. Grasspelt followed in pursuit.

"You can't catch me!" She called and ran through the water. She didn't care that she got wet. Actually, Shadowflame enjoyed the refreshing drops on her fur.

Grasspelt was coming closer, splashing up water at every step he took. Shadowflame sped her pace up and was running on the wet sand that was occasionally flooded by bigger waves. She could run faster here and soon left Grasspelt. She looked over her shoulder to see how close Grasspelt was but she couldn't see him anymore. _Ha-ha, he's too slow for me._ She laughed in triumph.

Suddenly something heavy crashed into her and bowled her over. Shadowflame yowled in surprise and caught a mouthful of dark gray tabby fur. Grasspelt jumped off her, amusement and victory glimmered in his wonderful, deep, dark green eyes. He looked down on her so gentle and lovingly. Shadowflame jumped to her paws.

"Do you hunt fish too?" She asked all of a sudden.

"Yes we do. It surprises me that nobody taught you yet."

"Maybe they thought it was unnecessary because I can hunt rabbits so well." Shadowflame boasted jokingly.

"Should I teach you how to fish?" Grasspelt asked, ignoring her last comment and lead Shadowflame to the part where the river flowed into the ocean. Then he followed the river into the heath land for a few fox lengths.

"Okay, if you want to catch a fish you have to be careful that your shadow doesn't fall onto the water or you will scare the fish." Luckily they were facing the sun. Grasspelt sat down in front of the water and held one paw over the water like a snake, ready to strike. He stood still for a few moments then his paws suddenly shot forward and in the next moment he was throwing a fish into the air. Droplets of water flew through the air and caught the light of the sun like crystals. The fish gaped for water and fell onto the ground. It flopped around helplessly, wiggling its fins and trashing its tail. Before it could escape into the water Grasspelt pinned it down with one paw and swiftly bit its neck.

"Now you try." Grasspelt said. Shadowflame positioned herself at the water just as Grasspelt had done. She held up a paw and waited for a fish to come by. Many smaller fish were swimming by but they were all too fast for her. Finally a bigger and slower fish swum past her and Shadowflame let her paw shoot forward. Her claws touched the fish's scales. However she had underestimated the how slippery the fish was and her claws slid off without making a damage. She yowled in frustration and hit her paw on the water which scared away a lot of smaller fishes.

"Don't be angry. You can just continue trying." Grasspelt meowed.

"I don't feel like trying anymore." Shadowflame pouted.

"Don't sulk. Practice will make you better." Grasspelt purred and licked her ear. "Are you still hungry?"

"A little but we don't have to eat anything now."

"Why not?" Grasspelt asked

"I don't know if I like fish." Shadowflame admitted.

"You have been in Oceanclan for over a moon and you haven't tried fish once?" Grasspelt's eyes widened in surprise.

"No I haven't. I never knew if I would like it."

"Well then you _have_ to try." Grasspelt said and shoved the fish over to Shadowflame. She looked down at the fish doubtfully and looked at Grasspelt again. He gave her an encouraging nod. She bent down and carefully took a small bite. The flavor of fish hit the roof of her gum and flooded her mouth. It tasted very different from what she had expected it to. It was colder than normal prey and a little chewier and softer. It tasted of river water and water plants, almost like the river itself. She took another bite and soon the whole fish was gone except for the bones that where too small to eat.

"And did you like it?" Grasspelt asked with expectation in his eyes.

"Yes, it was better than I thought it would be." Shadowflame purred and liked the side of her mouth to clean it from the rest of the fish. "Shouldn't we go back to rest of the patrol now? The sun will be setting soon."

"I think we better ought to." Grasspelt answered and together they headed for their improvised camp.

By now all the cats were back and everyone was preparing to sleep. Sparrowwing had already curled up in a moss nest and Spottedpaw and Dapplepaw were drowsily sharing tongues. Iceheart and Rainflower were already fast asleep and Sealpaw and Featherpaw were snoring as well. Heathertail was still clawing some moss together to make a nice nest. When it was finished Heathertail stepped into it circled in it a few times and lay down. Shellheart was still sitting was still sitting on top of a dune and watched the setting sun.

"Look they have left us some moss for a nest." Grasspelt said and began to pull it over to a gorse bush that would protect them from the wind. He patted it into shape and lay down Shadowflame curled up next to him and fell asleep soon while she listened to the reassuring purrs of Grasspelt.

**This was a rather long chapter wasn't it? Anyway somehow I can never make any cliffhangers. Do you think that I should try to do some cliffhangers? Please tell me if you think so. Oh, and can you give me three reviews please? Pretty please? If you do then every one of you will get a cyber kitty plushie like this one: =^_^=.**

**(Haha I already know what to write for the next chapter so if you review the next chapter will come very soon.)**


	14. Chapter 13: Seals

**Yay! Here comes my 13****th**** chapter. I'll try to put some action into this one.**

"Wake up every one! We're going to the seal sandbank. We should hurry while it is still wave-down." Sparrow wing's call woke Shadowflame and she quickly stood up. She didn't want to miss the seal hunt. The other cats came from their nests as well. Some of them gave themselves a quick groom other just looked out at the ocean.

"Okay, wave-down has just started so we will have time until sunhigh. I guess we will manage most of the way by then." Sparrowwing stood up and flicked his tail to make his patrol follow. Heathertail padded up next to Shadowflame.

"Isn't it exiting? Your first seal hunt. I still know how I felt when it was my first time…" While they walked along the tideland Heathertail kept on chatting for a while, most of the time Shadowflame didn't really listen because she was too curious for what would come next.

"Hey, are you actually listening to me?" Heathertail prodded Shadowflame with her paw.

"No, sorry." She answered apologetically.

"Well, I guess it's okay. There is one thing you should know though: Be careful not to step on any oysters. They have really sharp edges."

"Thanks." Shadowflame purred. She looked at the sky. The sun was still low in the sky. They would have enough time.

By the time the sun had almost reached the top of its round, Shadowflame's paws were clotted in sand and she had lost almost all her sense of direction. The tideland stretched almost endlessly to every side. The great wet sand plain was only interrupted by the waves of the ocean in the west and a line of dunes in the east.

Her belly growled with hunger. The patrol didn't have any time to hunt because they wanted to come as far as possible. But now several bellies growled and the apprentices began to ask their mentors when they would finally get something to eat.

"Sparrowwing, I think that we should stop for a hunt." Rainflower said.

"Okay, but be quick, wave-high will come soon." The cats spread out to look for prey. Shadowflame rolled in the sand and stalked over a big hill. On the other side she could see a small swarm of birds and beckoned the other clan cats to come closer and see.

On a wave of Shellheart's tail, the patrol spread out and circled the swarm. They slowly crept forward and stood still for a while.

Shadowflame's muscles were tensed, ready to jump at any signal. If they wouldn't catch anything now, they would have to stay hungry for a long time. She fixed her eyes on Shellheart and waited for a twitch of her tail or a flick of her ears.

Finally most of the birds were busily picking at the sand and Shellheart gave a small twitch with her tail.

Shadowflame shot forward and jumped for the closest bird. Her claws got caught in its feather coat. However the bird fought fiercely. It wriggled and Shadowflame's claws slipped on the strong sleek feathers. The bird gave a last frantic lurch and flew away.

Shadowflame let out a yowl of disappointment as she saw her prey vanish. She looked around and saw that only half of the patrol had caught anything.

"Well, we can try to dig for shells." Iceheart suggested, who hadn't caught anything either.

"Yes, but hurry. I can see the water rising." Shellheart said and shook her wet paws. Sure enough the water was rising and all the cats that hadn't caught anything dived for the sand and began digging where they suspected shells to be.

Shadowflame unsheathed her claws and spread them so that she could dig easier. She soon found three shells and quickly took them. The water was already flowing around her legs. With the three shells in her mouth Shadowflame ran for the big hill and climbed it nimbly. At the top she dropped her shells and ran back down to help other cats.

To Shadowflame's surprise the water was soaking her belly fur already. She dashed over to Sealpaw, who had found more shells than he could carry. Together they hurried to the hill. The water was now licking at Shadowflame's flanks and she shuddered as the cold seeped into her body. She looked at Sealpaw and saw that only his head was poking out of the water. Luckily they had reached the hill and climbed it rapidly.

"Are you sure that we will be save on this hill?" Shadowflame asked, worry stabbing her belly.

"I promise you that we will be safe." Grasspelt purred reassuringly and pressed his flank against hers in comfort and to warm her. They sat there and watched as the waves rose higher still.

Soon the water had almost reached the top flat space of the hill where they were all standing and Shadowflame began to wonder if Grasspelt had been right when he said that they were save. Alarmed she watched the waves as they slowly began to engulf the top of the hill.

Finally the water stopped rising shortly after sun-high. The whole hill was covered in paw deep water but at least is had stopped. Shadowflame gave a sigh of relief.

"I told we were going to be safe." Grasspelt said and licked her cheek in comfort. Shadowflame nodded and looked for a piece of prey that she could eat. There was only one sea gull left and it was lying in the water. _I know I shouldn't be picky now but this…?_ Reluctantly Shadowflame picked up the dripping gull and shook to get most of the water of its coat. She looked for a dry place to eat and found a small space that was about two cat lengths long and wide. She carried her prey there and began to gulp it down fast. The gull reminded her of kittypet food. It was just as cold and wet and tasteless. Quickly she swallowed the gull like she would have done with the kittypet food. Glad that her tummy was full and that the gull was gone, she laid down on the driest part of the small space that she could find. She rasped her tongue across her flank to dry her fur. Grasspelt joined her and helped drying her pelt with rubs of his paws and licks of his tongue.

When her fur was finally dry, Shadowflame curled up into a tight ball and waited for sleep to come and the water to go away . The sun shown onto them and soon her black fur was very warm. She purred and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Shadowflame woke up and saw the sun setting behind the waves. She stood up and carefully picked her way through the other sleeping cats that had all tried to find a dry space to sleep. With a graceful leap, Shadowflame jumped over the other sleeping bodies. However she had forgotten that the rest of the hill was covered in paw-deep water and sent droplets of water splashing onto Dapplepaw and Shellheart.

"Hey, what was that for?" Dapplepaw meowed and sat up drowsily. Shellheart gave a hiss of defiance and licked her wet fur.

"At least we are awake now. Wave-down will be upon us soon." Shellheart mewed and got up after her fur was halfway dry. She padded to the wet part of the hill and looked for a shell. After she had found one she began to nag at it with her teeth and pulled at the two sides with her claws. Shadowflame could feel her own tummy rumbling a little and decided to look for a shell as well. She soon found one that was half buried by the sand and copied Shellheart. She tried to slide her claws into the crack of the shell but it was closed shut.

"Try it in the water. It is easier like that because the shell will open to breathe the water." Shellheart advised her. Shadowflame nodded thankfully and held her shell under the surface of the water. Soon enough the shell opened slightly and quickly before it closed again, Shadowflame slid her claws into the thin crack. She bit into the crack as well and pulled with her claws until she could hear a crunching sound and feel the shell open.

Shadowflame looked at the pinkish flesh of the shell doubtfully. Should she really eat this?

"Try it. It is not as bad as you think it is." Shadowflame turned around a saw Rainflower gnawing at her own shell. Carefully Shadowflame bent down and licked at the inside of the shell. It was cold and slimy and Shadowflame gagged at first but after a while she got used to the flesh and ate the whole shell. To her surprise, she felt full even though she had only eaten one shell.

"Come on the water is going back and we have almost finished our route. Get going." Sparrowwing called out after all the cats had eaten something and the water was retreating. The moon shone down onto the cats and lighted their path.

The whole patrol padded onwards until they reached a small island with a wide sandy space where they could see the sleek black bodies of many seals. The water was rising rapidly now and the cats looked for a place to sleep.

It was almost sun-high when Heathertail woke her.

"Come on. We are preparing ourselves for the seal hunt." She called and weaved through the branches of the bush they had slept under. With a jolt, Shadowflame was awake. The seal hunt, their real purpose for this patrol. Her pelt bristled with excitement. She padded out of the bush and joined the other cats that had all gathered around Sparrowwing.

"Remember, you all have to be very careful when you are hunting seals. They are bigger than you and they can crush you with their weight. Even the smallest tones of them can break a bone if you are not careful enough." Sparrowwing looked at the apprentices and carried on. "On my sign we will circle the seals and try to separate the smallest one from the rest. And the last important thing to remember: Don't _ever_ be between the seals and the ocean." The cats nodded and spread out to eat some of the prey that they had managed to catch yesterday. Shadowflame picked out a small gull and sat down next to Grasspelt.

"How many times have you been on a seal hunt before?" Shadowflame asked.

"This will only be my second time because we don't hunt seals as often as we hunt normal prey, only about twice in four seasons." Grasspelt explained. Shadowflame nodded slowly. _Only twice in four seasons!_ She bent down over her prey and took a bite and then she pushed the gull towards Grasspelt. He took a few bites and then he let Shadowflame eat the rest.

Grasspelt stood up and padded to his apprentice to tell him how to behave during the seal hunt one more time. Featherpaw looked at him and nodded seriously then he padded over to his brother Sealpaw.

"Okay, has everybody eaten something? Good, then we shall hunt some seals now. Follow me!" Sparrowwing strode off and the patrol followed him. Every mentor was giving their apprentices some advises on how to hunt a seal. Shadowflame felt lost. She didn't know anything about seal-hunting.

Iceheart must have sensed it because he came up to her and explained what to do: "We will all circle the seals like we did it with the birds. Then Sparrowwing will show us which seal to pick. We will try to separate this seal from it's group and if it is far away enough we will kill." Shadowflame had her doubts. The seals were big and heavy.

"The seals may be big, but we are plenty." Iceheart said when he noticed her uneasiness. Shadowflame meowed a thanks and Iceheart walked on to speak to Sparrowwing.

The patrol reached the sandy shore where the seals where basking in the sun. Sparrowwing motioned them to halt and then he laid his watchful eye on the group of seals. Finally he pointed his tail to the smallest seal and gave a nod. The patrol spread out. Shadowflame was between Shellheart and Heathertail. Grasspelt was opposite of her.

The cats closed onto the seal group in a wide semi-circle and slowly stalked towards the smallest seal. Luckily it was at the edge of the group and it's mother was busy with something else. Suddenly Iceheart, Sparrowwing and Rainflower shot forward to separate the Small seal from it's mother. The small seal gave a cry of alarm but the cats hissed and lashed out with their claws so that the seal had nothing else to do than to flee into the opposite direction of its group. The small seal gave another cry of alarm and the cats hissed again, making the rest of the seals panic.

Frantically the seals fled into the ocean. It looked like a black wave that washed over the shore. The heavy bodies slapped onto the ground. If cat would be caught in there it would mean death.

On a sign of Sparrowwing the other cats jumped onto the small seal cub. They killed it by clawing and biting at it's neck and throat. Blood washed through Shadowflame's mouth as she bit down hard into the little seal's throat. The seal gave one last cry for help. But suddenly a louder earsplitting screech could be heard over the seal cub's weep. The cry belonged to a cat. And it came from the fleeing seals.

**Dum, dum, duuuuuun! Is that a cliffie good enough for you. Please review. How about two… or three?**


	15. Chapter 14: Cliffie!

Shadowflame's eyes searched the wave of seals. Suddenly she spotted a small pale ginger body between the seals that was driven towards the water.

It was Spottedpaw, if they didn't help her she would get squashed by the seals or drowned in the water. Spottedpaw gave another panic striken scream then her head disappeared.

**Cliffie!**


	16. Chapter 15 Grasspelt: Spottedpaw!

**I am soooo sorry that I didn't update for such a long time but I didn't have any time or internet for a long time because first I went camping over a long weekend and then the day after I came back I went on a class trip to Valencia with my Spanish class. I hope that you forgive me and to compensate you for your waiting time I will try to make this chapter extra long.**

**This one is of Grasspelt POV.**

Grasspelt could hear Spottedpaw's panic stricken cry for help. He looked at the wave of seals and saw her head go under. Without thinking, Grasspelt ran towards the seals. He could hear thumping paw steps behind him. He turned around and saw Shellheart with panic in her eyes followed closely by Iceheart. Grasspelt turned his head forward again and headed for the mass of seals. He pricked his ears to pick up the slightest cry from Spottedpaw. He could her small whimpers coming from somewhere between the seals.

He stopped at the edge of the seal group, well away from their writhing bodies. He turned around to the other two cats. "How should we get her out of there?"

"The only thing I can think of is waiting for the seals to pass." Iceheart admitted

Shellheart let out an aggressive snarl: "Why did you come to rescue her then?" Grasspelt ignored her and thought of a way to rescue Shellheart's apprentice. He could only think of Iceheart's idea and plunging into the group of seals. His thoughts were disturbed by a mew of terror that was close to the ocean's edge. He caught a flash of Spottedpaw's ginger fur and saw how she was dragged into the hungry waves. They had no more time left, they had to do something.

Following a sudden impulse, Grasspelt ran to the ocean's edge and dived into the water. He could hear his companion's calls of alarm. The salt stung in his eyes and mouth and the waves almost threatened to push him under water but he was used to swimming so his paws soon churned strongly through the water. He swam along the side of the fleeing seals and looked for a sign of Spottedpaw.

"There she is, behind that big brown one." Grasspelt heard Shellheart's anxious mew. He looked around but could see no Spottedpaw, nor a big brown seal.

"Grasspelt, help me!" Spottedpaw's call split the air and Grasspelt's head jerked in towards the direction of the sound. He could see Spottedpaw clearly now she was paddling frantically in the water and tried to keep her head up. Suddenly a gray seal swam to her and pushed her under the surface of the water. Grasspelt didn't have time to wait. He had to rescue Spottedpaw now or she would drown.

He swam towards the spot where the seal crashed into her and got almost hit by another seal. A fin slapped into his face and left him spluttering for a moment. He could see small blinking dots and shook his head to clear his sight.

Spottedpaw's head had emerged from the water again but it kept going under. Grasspelt wanted to swim to her but a giant seal pushed him under the surface. Water flowed into his mouth and nose and Grasspelt gagged at the harsh taste. Precious air bubbles escaped his mouth. Grasspelt wanted to swim towards the surface but seals kept pushing him under the water. His lungs were screaming for air and a dizzying mist spread in his head. He wanted to let go of the pain in his chest. He stopped churning in the water a floated through the salty waves.

All of a sudden Grasspelt's head broke through the surface and another fin slapped his muzzle. He gasped to get enough air tried to clear the mist out of his head. He had to find and rescue Spottedpaw.

Only a few tail lengths in front of him he saw a Small ginger lump of fur. He swam towards it and grasped it with his teeth. He held his head high so that Spottedpaw could breathe. Another seal bumped into them and Grasspelt and Spottedpaw got pushed under water. Quickly Grasspelt paddled towards the surface and held up his head again.

He could hardly breathe through the fur in his mouth and Spottedpaw seemed to be growing heavier with every tail length. Grasspelt's and Spottedpaw's wet furs clung to their bodies and pulled Grasspelt down. His neck muscles where aching with the wet load. His muscles grew tired and he could hardly keep himself, let alone Spottedpaw, over water. He didn't even know where to swim.

Suddenly he felt being taken from him and felt two bodies pushing him to the right direction. The stream of seals grew thinner and son they left it behind them. They reached the shore and Grasspelt carried himself a little farther until he collapsed, breathing heavily. He felt frantic licks rubbing his chest and caught Shadowflame's scent. He opened his eyes to see her face and as she looked at his face she let out a out and kept on licking his wet fur.

"H-how is Spottedpaw?" He managed to croak, his throat was soar from the salt water.

"I don't know," Shadowflame admitted. "She is hardly breathing and her hind leg looks pretty bad…" Shadowflame trailed off and continued to lick his fur.

"Will she live?" Grasspelt asked, anxiety building up in his chest, Spottedpaw was still such a young cat. She shouldn't have to go to join StarClan already.

"Maybe, maybe not. I can't tell, I just wished we had a medicine cat with us." Shadowflame sighed.

Grasspelt forced himself to get up and walk towards the small island where they had made an improvised camp. His paws slumbered over the ground and his legs were still aching with exhaustion. He slumped down onto his nest and Shadowflame curled up beside him. He tried to sleep but a thought was still nagging at his mind. He hadn't seen Spottedpaw since he rescued her and Shadowflame was very vague about her injuries. He stood and padded over to a clump of gorse that was heavy with Shellheart's and Spottedpaw's scent.

As he pushed aside the spiky branches a small ginger heap of fur got visible. Shellheart was curled around it like a queen around her kit. She lifted her head as she heard Grasspelt enter and gratitude flashed in her eyes for a small moment. Then it was covered by a thick mist of sorrow as she looked down onto her apprentice.

Spottedpaw was sleeping but she kept thrashing with her paws and gave out little mewls. At once Grasspelt saw what was wrong. Spottedpaw's left hind leg was sticking out at an odd angle and her paw was twisted unnaturally. Whenever she moved the leg she gave of a little wince of pain. A wave of grief hit Grasspelt like one of the seals. Spottedpaw was still a young cat and already injured so badly. Would she ever be a warrior?

**Okay, it is not as long as I promised it to be but at least I updated after a , very long time. (I was camping and in Valencia.)**

**Thanks for all your reviews, especially to StormWolf77, they keep my spirit up.**

**~Glowingsoul (with a glowing soul)**


	17. Chapter 16: Hunting with Windstep

Shadowflame could hear the mew of many cats as they finally reached the camp. The sun was slowly sinking and she was so tired that she could have slept for moons. Spottedpaw was leaning heavily on her and Shellheart's shoulder and the extra weight made Shadowflame stumble several times. The rest of the patrol was pulling and pushing at the seal.

Skywhisker was on guard and greeted them with a welcoming mew. His eyes flew wide in shock as he saw the injured Spottedpaw in their midst.

"What happened?" he asked and followed them into camp as no one answered. The rest of the clan gathered in the clearing, drawn out of their dens by the smell of seal. Several mews of shock could be heard as one by one the clan discovered of Spottedpaw's injury.

Suddenly Darkdapple ran out of the crowd towards her kit. She gave out a cry of grief and her accusing stare raked the pelts of the patrol.

"What happened? What did you do to her?" She screamed and curled up around her daughter, covering her with licks. Darkdapple's former mate, Sandclaw, joined her, his ginger pelt bristling, and gave his daughter's leg an anxious sniff.

The crowd parted yet again to let two other cats through. Rosedapple strode towards Spottedpaw followed by her apprentice Gullflight, who was carrying a big bunch of herbs in his jaws.

"Get out of the way." Rosedapple mewed and pushed the protesting Darkdapple aside. Rosedapple bent over Spottedpaw' leg and laid a paw on it. "Can you still walk to the medicine cats den?" Rosedapple asked her barely conscious patient more gently. Spottedpaw gave a feeble nod. Right away Shellheart jumped up to help Rosedapple and Gullflight to guide her apprentice to the den but Darkdapple showed her away with a hiss and let her daughter lean on her shoulder. Together they disappeared in the medicine cats den.

After Spottedpaw had been safely guided to the medicine cats den the rest of the clan pressed close to the patrol to hear what had happened. Shadowflame could see several cats asking her questions but she didn't listen to them because she was too tired. All she wanted to do now was to curl up in her nest and sleep until sunhigh.

A call from Spraystar silenced the clan. "Sparrowwing, as we all want to know what happened I suggest that you will tell the whole clan." Sparrowwing nodded and sat down in front of the Big Rock. He described how they had caught the seal and how Grasspelt had rescued Spottedpaw. Then he quickly finished the report and gave the word back to Spraystar. You could clearly see that he was just as tired as the rest of the patrol.

Spraystar nodded thoughtfully before he spoke again: "We thank the whole patrol for bringing back the seal and wee grief for Spottedpaw's injuries and hope that she will soon pick up her training again. I give special thanks to Grasspelt for risking his own life to save Spottedpaw-"approving murmurs wandered through the clan and Grasspelt bowed his head deeply in thanks of the leader's praise however he was too tired to do any more. "I think that the whole patrol deserved a good night's sleep now." With these words he jump down of the Big Rock and dismissed the meeting. Shadowflame could hear Sungaze giving instructions to rip the seal apart and dry all the pieces of flesh that where too much for the clan to eat before the meat would rot.

Shadowflame was already asleep on her paws when she entered the warriors den and curled up in her nest. At once a silent and undisturbed sleep overwhelmed her and carried her away to a place far from worries.

Shadowflame woke to the bright light of the sunhigh sun falling onto her face. She twitched her ears in annoyance and stood up. She padded out of the warriors den and gave herself a good stretch before she picked out a juicy mouse from the freshkill pile. She devoured it in a few bites. She hadn't realized how hungry she had been.

"Shadowflame, come on hunting patrol." Windstep called from the entrance where he stood with Pineear and Swoopingbird. Shadowflame groaned inwardly at the thought of having to go on a hunting patrol with Windstep. A hunting patrol was bad enough but with Windstep leading it, it was sure not to be a very pleasant experience. Windstep had improved his behavior towards her since she had her warriors ceremony but he was still a not Shadowflame's favorite cat however good friends he was with Grasspelt.

Reluctantly she raised herself and trotted over to the patrol. Pineear gave her a friendly nod. At least she wasn't going to be alone with Windstep. The patrol left the camp and headed towards twoleg place.

"Swoopingbird, Pineear you will hunt in Small Woods. Shadowflame, you come with me. We will hunt rabbits in Wide Hills." Shadowflame bit back a cry of protest and followed Windstep. He led her towards the wide spread of grassy hills where the chance of catching a rabbit was highest.

Shadowflame opened her mouth to catch any trace of rabbit scent. She pricked her ears as a young rabbit jump out from behind a low bush. She gave a signal to Windstep and crept around the rabbit to chase it into Windstep's claws. Luckily the wind came from the side so the rabbit wouldn't detect her. She prowled down a hill, pressing herself close to the ground. Silent as a shadow she rounded the bush and prepared to jump but the rabbit was gone she gave a yowl of frustration and padded up the hill but Windstep was gone as well.

She scanned the hillside and saw him chasing the rabbit. She ran in his direction. Her paws were flying over the grass and she felt the wind tug at her fur and ears. Her tail was streaming out behind her and outran Windstep and the rabbit. She whipped around and pounced as the rabbit was only a few tail lengths in front of her. But she had misjudged her jump and instead of catching the rabbit, she crashed into Windstep.

She could hear a surprised hiss and was thrown onto the ground. Windstep had pinned her to the ground and looked at her. His eyes were burning with annoyance.

"What was that?" he hissed and gave his pelt a shake. The fur along his spine was bristling.

"I tried to catch the rabbit." Shadowflame defended herself.

"Well I was off better without you help. I would have caught that rabbit if you hadn't attacked me.

"I didn't attack you…" Shadowflame protested but was silenced as Windstep's furious gaze met hers.

"You behaved like an apprentice. Didn't you see that I almost had it?" he hissed.

Shadowflame bent her head. Her ears were burning with rage and embarrassment. How dare he call her an apprentice! But she had to admit that she could see a point. He _would_ have caught the rabbit but Shadowflame wasn't going to give in.

She whipped around and stalked off. Her head was held high in defiance. She made sure that Windstep couldn't see her anymore and flattened to the ground. She could pick up the scent of mouse and soon she saw the small brown creature nibble at a seed. She prowled forward and bounced at the mouse. It didn't stand a chance and she bit down on its spine quickly. Then she laid it onto the ground and kicked up some earth to cover it. She pricked her ears and could soon hear the rhythmic padding sound a hobbling rabbit. It was still young and fat enough to feed the queens and elders. _Good _she thought _I will show this puffed up furball._

Slowly she crept up onto the rabbit and jumped. It still gave some desperate wriggles to get free but Shadowflame bit down on its neck and it went limp. Pride surged through her and wiped away her bad thoughts about Windstep. Suddenly she heard an aggressive hiss behind her and turned around. In front of her she could see three ragged cats with bristling fur and raised hackles. The first one was letting out a threatening growl and jumped.

**I am really sorry that you had to wait for such a long time but I was really busy with my "create a cat" and I had a pretty uninspiring week. I didn't really feel like writing stories so I concentrated on "create a cat" mostly. I hope that you like this chapter.**

**~Glowi**

**PS:**shekkkkkkkkkk** Can you believe that I wanted Windstep to be a caring, friendly and level-headed cat when I started this story?**


	18. Chapter 17: Rogues attack

Shadowflame dodged away and lashed out with a claw as the rogue passed her. A second rogue, a she-cat, jumped onto her back and dug its claws into her shoulders. Shadowflame let out a screech of fury and rolled on the ground in an attempt to squash the attacker. But now her belly was exposed and the third rogue, another tom, jumped at it with outstretched claws. Shadowflame just managed to kick it away and twisted around to stand on her feet again.

The three rogues had circled her and Shadowflame desperately tried to avoid their swipes. The biggest tom jumped her. Remembering her lessons with Needlestripe, she crouched down and as the tom was above her she kicked at the ground and pushed the tom away. It was heavier than Shadowflame had thought and only flew a few tail lengths where he hit the ground and stood up immediately to lunge back into the battle.

The other two cats were nipping at Shadowflame and lashed at her with their claws. She could feel a cut in her side and blood trickling down the side of her face. Her tail and right hind leg were burning where the cats had landed bites.

Shadowflame gave a last attempt to break free from the rogues and slashed out with a claw while she bolted past the attackers. She turned around quickly and racked her claws over the smaller tom's haunches before the rogues turned on her.

The she-cat gave a menacing hiss and jumped at Shadowflame's throat. She jumped backwards and could feel needle sharp claws racking her chest. Pain erupted and Shadowflame gave a yowl of pain. She racked a claw across the she-cat's muzzle and lunged forward to bite down hard on her shoulder.

Shadowflame could taste blood in her mouth and feel the she-cat writhing under her grip. One of the toms hurled himself at Shadowflame and landed a hard blow on her head. She staggered and fell. She tried to get up but the she-cat held her down. Slowly the biggest tom leaned down and laid his teeth on her neck. Shadowflame tried to wriggle free but she was too weak and the she-cat wouldn't let go.

Suddenly Shadowflame could hear a yowl, different to the yowls of her attackers. She thought that is was another rogue but then she saw a flash of brown tabby fur and broad shoulders followed by a gray and a white pelt. The weight was lifted of her and the attackers were out of sight. Shadowflame lifted her head and saw Needlestripe, Stormclaw and Pebblepool battling the rogues.

Shadowflame dozed off several times and was welcoming the soothing mist that clouded her thoughts and the pain. She heard the agonized screech of one of the rogues as Stormclaw raked his hind claws over its belly and a hiss of defiance as the she-cat batted a claw at Pebblepool's ear. Needlestripe was battling with the biggest tom and clawed at his muzzle. Stormclaw and Pebblepool had driven off their attackers already and Needlestripe had pinned the leader of the group to the ground. He hissed something into his ear then he let go of him and sent him away with one last warning bite in the tail.

Needlestripe padded over to Shadowflame, who was still lying on the grass. "Are you okay? Can you walk?" Shadowflame nodded and heaved herself onto her paws. She staggered slightly and was happy for Pebblepool's helpful shoulder. Stormclaw picked up the rabbit that Shadowflame had caught earlier and totally forgotten and together they headed towards camp.

In camp Pebblepool guided Shadowflame to the medicine cat's den. Rosedapple was busy sorting herbs but when she saw Shadowflame she came over immediately.

"What happened?" she asked and sniffed at Shadowflame's wounds. While Pebblepool told Rosedapple about the attack Rosedapple ordered Shadowflame to lie down.

"Have you licked your wounds clean?" Shadowflame shook her head and Rosedapple gave a sigh: "Somehow warriors never seem to learn to lick their wounds clean." She bent down to clean Shadowflame's wounds. By now Shadowflame could feel how worn out she was from the battle. She just wanted to doze off and forget the pulsing pain that her wounds gave off. Rosedapple chewed up some marigold and rubbed poultice into Shadowflame's wounds. It stung but Rosedapple held her down with a firm grip so Shadowflame couldn't move.

Gullflight came hobbling towards them on three legs. The fourth leg was coated in cobwebs. Rosedapple took some and pressed it over the wounds. They were done soon and Gullflight gave Shadowflame some poppy seeds to chew on.

"The wound on your chest is worst." Rosedapple commented after Shadowflame could finally relax in the nest. The poppy seeds were already clouding her thoughts and numbing her pain.

"Do you have any problems breathing?" She asked but Shadowflame couldn't make any sense of her words and her eyelids kept on closing.

"This is no use." Rosedapple meowed "We will have to wait until she wakes up." With these words she left Shadowflame to sleep.

Mist was clouding Shadowflame's thoughts and tiredness was dragging at her limbs. With a sigh she drifted of into a dreamless sleep.

**I know that the ending was a little cut off but I wanted to finish this chapter and I was distracted. I hope that you still like it. I might jump in the next chapter so that Shadowflame doesn't have to stay in the medicine cat's den for so long.**

**Please, please, please review.**

**~Glowi**


	19. Chapter 18: New Ranks

**I do not own the ceremonies or warriors, they belong to Erin Hunter. I do own all the cats mentioned in this story. **

**I remembered something that I wanted to tell you some time ago: I didn't put myself into the story by adding the character Glowingsoul. Glowingsoul was in OceanClan already before I joined FanFiction and as I liked her and the other name I wanted to take was already taken I chose Glowingsoul as a name for myself.**

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Big Rock for a clan meeting." Spraystar called. Shadowflame pricked her ears and hauled herself out of her nest. Her wounds still stung and she limped slightly.

She joined the gathering crowd and watched as they settled down under the darkening sky. The first stars of Silverpelt already twinkled like spray in the sun.

"Today I have many important ceremonies to hold." A murmur swept through the listening cats.

"First, these four kits have to be apprenticed." Spraystar waved his tail towards the four kits. The two she-cats and toms where bouncing around excitedly but as the clan turned on them they fell silent and shuffled their paws nervously. Shadowflame stifled a purr of amusement.

With half-solemn, half-excited expressions on their faces they were led to the Big Rock by their mother Blackstream. They came to a halt in front of Spraystar who watched them with amusement in his eyes.

He beckoned the smallest kit forward with his tail. The small, black she-cat quivered with excitement and no sign of nervousness shone in her dark blue eyes.

"Pricklekit, from now on you shall be known as Pricklepaw. Cloudfur," a pale gray she-cat stepped forward. "You are ready for an apprentice. You will be Pricklepaw's mentor. You are known for your patience and skill. I expect you to pass on all your skills to Pricklepaw so that she may be an honorable warrior for OceanClan." Cloudfur dipped her head at Spraystar and bent down to touch nose with her new apprentice. The cats cheered and called Pricklepaw's name. She looked ready to burst with pride, just like her mentor.

Next came Steamkit. Iceheart was appointed his mentor. They were followed by Foamkit with Stormclaw and Berrykit with Rabbitear. As all the kits had their new apprentice names Spraystar cleared his throat and the noise died away.

"Now I will perform one of the most important tasks, maybe the most important task as a leader." The cats fell silent and looked at him. "Pineear, is Redpaw ready to become a warrior?"

The reddish-brown stepped forward and dipped his head: "As ready as one could be." He meowed. Spraystar nodded.

"Glowingsoul, is Lightpaw ready to become a warrior?"

Glowingsoul fixed her leader with a steady gaze, her swollen belly bulged slightly at her flanks: "She was born ready." Spraystar nodded again and called the two apprentices forward.

"I, Spraystar, leader of OceanClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to as warriors in their turn. Redpaw, Lightpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your lives?"

"I do." Redpaw meowed somberly.

"I do." His sister echoed more brightly, her eyes sparkled in competition with the stars above.

"Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior names: Redpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Redblaze. StarClan honors your thoughtfulness and bravery, and we welcome you as a full warrior of OceanClan." Spraystar rested his muzzle on Redblaze's head. The young warrior licked his leader's shoulder respectfully and backed away to leave space for his sister.

"Lightpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Lightstreak. StarClan honors your spirit and loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of OceanClan." Spraystar rested his muzzle on Lightstreak's head and she licked his shoulder, her tail quivered with excitement. She padded over to her brother and let her eyes gleam with happiness as the clan called their new names.

"As the ritual commands it, the new warriors have to sit a night of silent vigil and guard the camp." Spraystar mewed as the calls died away.

"Now that my apprentice has been made a warrior I will move to the nursery." Glowingsoul said as the meeting was breaking apart. The clan purred with delight, kits where always good news for the clan. Shadowflame purred with amusement as she thought of Glowingsoul, who insisted on staying Lightstreak's mentor until she was a warrior.

Slowly she padded towards the warriors den as Tallkit, Bluekit and Greenkit ran towards her.

"Hey, Shadowflame." Bluekit called. The red kit jumped and hurled herself into Shadowflame's flank. Her breath got caught in her throat as Bluekit hit her wound.

"Bluekit, be careful, Shadowflame is hurt." Tallkit called.

Bluekit backed away and looked at her with brilliant blue eyes. "I'm sorry." She mewed and leaped at her sisters. The three kits rolled on the floor in a heap of squirming, dusty fur. Shadowflame laughed as Greenkit broke away from the play fight and liked her chest fur clean. Obviously she was trying to look serious and mature. A few moments later Tallkit and Bluekit broke apart too and sat down in front of Shadowflame.

"It is so unfair that Pricklepaw, Berrypaw, Steampaw and Foampaw are apprentices and we aren't." Tallkit complained.

"But they are older than you." Shadowflame reminded her.

"Yes, but we are almost as big as them. Well Greenkit isn't, but Tallkit is even bigger than Pricklepaw." Bluekit mewed

"Well, Pricklepaw is the smallest of them." Shadowflame said.

"Well, who cares? She should still be a kit then." Bluekit exclaimed.

"Bluekit, you're being unreasonable. You are going to be apprenticed in less than two moons." Shadowflame scolded the bold, red kit.

"But two moons are so long." Greenkit defended her sister silently.

"It is still no excuse for being rude." Shadowflame purred and stroked Bluekit's back with her tail. Bluekit sighed exaggeratingly and looked at Shadowflame.

"Will you mentor one of us?" she wanted to know.

"I don't know." Shadowflame admitted. "Would you like to have me as your mentor?"

"Of course!" Greenkit piped and leaped onto the air. It was a pretty big jump for a kit like her. Shadowflame purred. She hoped that Spraystar would give her an apprentice soon. After all she had been in the clan for quite a while already.

"Greenkit, Bluekit, Tallkit, time to sleep!" Darkdapple called from the nursery. The three kits heaved an enormous and trotted over to their mother. Shadowflame gave a little shake with her head and walked over to the warriors den. She was feeling a little tired and she wanted her wounds to heel quickly.

Silently she passed Lightstreak and Redblaze, who looked at the stars and entered the warriors den. Heaps of fur indicated the sleeping cats in the shadows. Slowly Shadowflame padded to her nest and curled up in it. Grasspelt lifted his head drowsily as she nudged accidently and purred. _Life is good._ Shadowflame thought with satisfaction and drifted of to sleep.

"We have to stop these rogues from attacking." Shadowflame stepped out of the warriors den and walked into Skywhisker and Hailfur discussing outside.

"How would you want to do this?" Hailfur asked.

"We will have to find the rogues camp then we can attack and tell them to stay off our territory."Skywhisker meowed aggressively.

"Spraystar will tell us what to do soon enough." Hailfur replied calmly.

"Well then he should be a bit quicker." Skywhisker grumbled hotly. Shadowflame padded away, leaving the two of them discussing. She wondered if Spraystar would do anything about the rogues soon. Her wounds had healed quite well but they still stung and she wanted to take revenge on these three filthy flee-bags.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join here beneath the Big Rock for a clan meeting." Spraystar's call rang across the clearing clearly and at once the clan began to gather around Spraystar. Some of them where muttering to their friends, obviously wondering what this was about.

"Cats of OceanClan, you all know that one of our clanmates has been attacked by a couple of rogues a few sunrises ago." Several heads turned towards Shadowflame who was sitting between Grasspelt and Heathertail. "Luckily Needlestripe and his patrol found her and drove them out." Approving purrs came from the cats.

"However the rogues are still a problem." Spraystar continued. Cats began to murmur and Shadowflame could hear Skywhisker muttering under his breath

"As if we don't know this." _What has gotten into him? He isn't this prickly normally. _Shadowflame thought and concentrated on Spraystar again.

"I have talked to Sungaze and we have both come to the decision that we should talk to the rogues and warn them off." Mixed calls of satisfaction and disapproval erupted from the crowd.

"How should we talk to them? We don't know where they are." Watercoat mewed.

"If we find them they will attack us before we have a chance to say mouse." Sandclaw yowled.

"Spraystar's idea is well-reasoned." Silverback rasped.

"We should go and attack them right away." Skywhisker called loudest of all. Many cats meowed in approval. Shadowflame could hear Heathertail gasp next to her. How could Skywhisker question Spraystar's authority in such a way?

"We would have to find their main meeting place first." Spraystar mewed calmly and fixed Skywhisker with a hard, dark blue gaze. Skywhisker glared at his leader challengingly for a few heartbeats. The clan was silent and glanced at their leader. Spraystar didn't take his calm, cool gaze of Skywhisker who sat down with a soft hiss.

"Needlestripe, Swoopingbird, Breezepelt and Shadowflame you will go and look for their main meeting place. Do not let yourselves be seen if possible and _don't_ attack." Spraystar warned with a hard sideways glance at Skywhisker. "I expect you to return to camp at latest moon high."

**I am so sorry that I didn't update for a week or so. I was on holidays and I had no internet. The next chapter for Lighting Dawn will up as soon as possible as well and for all the ones that are waiting for the first chapter of Water and Earth will have to wait for a little longer. It is so hard to get started. Please forgive and be patient.**

**~Glowi**

**PS: Beneath you will find an updated version of OceanClan (mates, new apprentices, warriors and queens, etc.) If you are too lazy read through it I will tell you something important that you already know I guess: Heathertail is Windstep's mate. For all of you who don't like this. I can't change. It was in my mind before I even joined FanFiction.**

**OCEANCLAN**

**Clever&Brave**

**LEADER**

**SPRAYSTAR—**silver-gray tom, dark blue eyes

**DEPUTY**

**SUNGAZE—**dark ginger tom, yellow eyes **Mate: SEAFROST**

**MEDICINE CAT**

**ROSEDAPPLE—**tortoiseshell and white she-cat, pale blue eyes

**APPRENTICE, GULLFLIGHT—**white tom with a brown face, blue eyes

**WARRIORS**

(toms, and she-cats without kits)

**SPARROWWING—**light brown tabby tom, pale blue eyes **Mate: GLOWINGSOUL**

**NEEDLESTRIPE—**tabby tom with darker stripes, pale green eyes

**SHELLHEART—**white she-cat with ginger splotches, dark green eyes** APPRENTICE,SPOTTEDPAW**

**HEATHERTAIL—**light brown she-cat, purple-blue eyes **APPRENTICE, DAPPLEPAW; Mate: WINDSTEP**

**SANDCLAW—**ginger tom, amber eyes **APPRENTICE, STRIPEDPAW**

**GRASSPELT—**dark gray tabby tom, dark green eyes **APPRENTICE, FEATHERPAW; Mate: SHADOWFLAME**

***SHADOWFLAME—**black she-cat, her fur shines reddish in the sun, yellow eyes **Mate: GRASSPELT**

**CLOUDFUR—**pale gray, thick furred she-cat, pale blue eyes

**SEAFROST—**pale silver she-cat, sea-blue eyes** Mate: SUNGAZE**

**WATERCOAT—**white she-cat, blue eyes

**FROZENWAVE—**white she-cat, green eyes

**WINDSTEP—**swift brown tom, amber eyes **Mate: HEATHERTAIL**

**SKYWHISKER—**gray tom with long whiskers, brown eyes ** APPRENTICE, THORNPAW**

**STORMCLAW—**dark gray tom, yellow eyes

**RABBITEAR—**brown tom with big ears, amber eyes

**SWOOPINGBIRD—**black she-cat, yellow eyes

**RAINFLOWER—**gray she-cat, water-blue eyes ** APPRENTICE, SEALPAW**

**HAILFUR—**gray tom, blue eyes **Mate: BLACKSTREAM**

**ICEHEART—**white tom, blue eyes **Mate: GOLDENBERRY**

**BREEZEPELT—**ginger, amber eyes **Mate: TANGLELEAF**

**STONEFOOT—**dark gray tom, pale gray eyes

**PUDDLENOSE—**tabby she-cat, pale gray around the muzzle, green eyes

**PEBBLEPOOL—**white she-catwith gray spots, amber eyes

**PINEEAR—**dark reddish-brown tom, yellow eyes**Mate: DARKDAPPLE**

**BLACKSTREAM—**pure black with pale green eyes **Mate: HAILFUR**

**REDBLAZE—**dark ginger tom with reddish paws, green eyes

**LIGHTSTREAK—**very pale ginger she-cat, gray eyes

**APPRENTICES**

(more than six moons old, in training to become warriors)

**STRIPEDPAW—**brown tabby tom with darker stripes, amber eyes

**FEATHERPAW—**pale gray tabby tom with long whiskers, blue eyes

**SPOTTEDPAW—**pale ginger she-cat with faint dark ginger spots, green eyes

**DAPPLEPAW—**dark brown she-cat with a strongly dappled coat, amber eyes

**THORNPAW—**black tom with slightly spiked fur, yellow eyes

**SEALPAW—**very dark gray tom, dark brown eyes

**PRICKLEPAW—**black she-cat, dark blue eyes

**BERRYPAW—**black she-cat, pale green eyes

**FOAMPAW—**pale gray tom green eyes

**STEAMPAW—**silver tom, green eyes

**QUEENS**

(she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

**glOWINGSOUL—**silver she-cat with eyes the color of the deep, green-blue sea; expecting Sparrowwing's kits

**DARKDAPLE—**dark brown tortoiseshell with a dappled coat, green eyes; mother of Pineear's kits: Tallkit, Bluekit & Greenkit

**TANGLELEAF—**dark tortoiseshell tabby, golden eyes; mother of Breezepelt's kits: Shortkit & Petalkit

**GOLDENBERRY—**golden she-cat with a slightly spotted belly and lovely brown eyes; mother of Iceheart's kits: Whitekit & Crabkit

**ELDERS**

(former warriors and queens now retired)

**SILVERBACK—**silver tom ,blue eyes

**FUZZYTAIL—**black and dark gray tom with kinked tail fur, yellow eyes

**RUSHINGWIND—**reddish she-cat with long fur, yellow eyes

**SEDGESONG—**brown tabby she-cat with gray around the muzzle, brown eyes

**KITS**(toms and she-cats younger than six moons) (underlined = mother)

**SHORTKIT—**brown tabby tom with a short tail, golden eyes **TANGLELEAF**

**PETALKIT—**tortoiseshell she-kit with white spots on her back ** &**

**BREEZEPELT**

**TALLKIT—**dark brown, dappled she-kit, dark green eyes **DARKDAPPLE**

**GREENKIT—**pale tortoiseshell she-kit, yellow eyes **&**

**BLUEKIT—**reddish she-kit, blue eyes **PINEEAR**

**WHITEKIT—**white tom, brown eyes **GOLDENBERRY**

**CRABKIT—**golden tom, blue eyes **&**

**ICEHEART**


	20. Chapter 19: Discovery

**Hey, I am finally back with the next chapter of Emily's Fate. I hope you still remember what happened in the last chapter because it will be vital for this one (duh!). I just hope that you will enjoy this chapter.**

**This one will be shorter.**

"Okay, you heard Spraystar. We will go to find the rogues' meeting place and then return to camp and report what we found." Needlestripe meowed after they had all eaten. He flicked his tail and the patrol left camp. They headed straight for the spot where the rouges had attacked Shadowflame a few sunrises ago. Needlestripe was keeping up a quick pace but Shadowflame could keep up easily after spending her time with the clan for so long already. They ran over the dunes, with the wind in their backs, kicking up sand as they went. Shadowflame enjoyed the feeling of the wind in her fur and the soft sand under paw. She couldn't imagine how she could have ever lived without this feeling, without being a part of OceanClan. If they hadn't been on such an important mission Shadowflame would have been here with Grasspelt, hunting, running, talking.

"Stop dreaming, Shadowflame, we need to hurry if we want to be back by moon high." Swoopingbird called. The black she-cat's yellow eyes where serious and tensed, as if she was already imagining what would happen if their mission failed or if they were caught by the rogues.

Shadowflame caught up with the rest of the group. They were walking slower now because they were close to the border, at the area where the rogues seem to cross into their territory. Shadowflame's muscles tensed and her fur bristled slightly as she remembered her last encounter with the rogues.

Needlestripe motioned the patrol to stop. "We are about to leave our territory. You know that you have to pay special attention to anything that seems unusual to us or that can lead us to the rogues." The dark brown tabby flicked his tail and the patrol set off again. They crossed the scent markers that marked their territory.

At once Shadowflame felt uneasy. She opened her mouth slightly to catch any unusual scent but she could only scent stale rogue scent that would hopefully lead them to their destiny. Shadowflame could see that her clanmates where just as weary as she was. Breezepelt's pelt was bristling and Swoopingbird kept flicking her ear while Needlestripe's muscles where tense.

Suddenly they could hear a cracking noise from behind them. Shadowflame whirled around with bristling fur and raised hackles. She had her eyes wide open and her ears lay flat on her head. Every muscle in her body was tensed for a fight. The other cats on her patrol hadn't reacted any differently. Every single hair on their pelts was bristling. They waited breathlessly for several heartbeats but nothing happened. Suddenly a small wood mouse darted out of a tuft of grass and disappeared into a hole.

Shadowflame couldn't stop a small, nervous meow of laughter as she realized their mistake. Slowly the patrol relaxed. Needlestripe gave his pelt a few irritated licks while Breezepelt was still gazing at the spot where the mouse had appeared as if he believed something could still attack them. Needlestripe gave the sign to follow him and the patrol continued with their search.

The sun was slowly rising higher in the sky and the hills that they had been walking through all morning had flattened out. Shadowflame could feel hunger beginning to claw at her belly but she didn't dare say anything in case they weren't allowed to hunt.

The sun was climbing higher and the patrol still hadn't found the rogues meeting place. The landscape had now flattened out completely and the view stretched as far as the horizon only broken by twolegplaces, thunderpaths and woods.

They found a small stream and Shadowflame guessed that it was the same stream that flowed through their territory as well. Needlestripe decided that they should have a break to drink and hunt. Thankfully, Shadowflame drank from the cool refreshing stream. Her throat had felt as dry as the sandy shore in their territory.

After she had quenched her thirst, Shadowflame decided to hunt something. She opened her mouth and pricked her ears to catch the smallest scent or sound made by prey. Soon she heard a small scuffling sound coming from the stream bank on the other side of the stream. Shadowflame checked the wind and then padded back a few fox lengths. Without making any sound she let herself glide into the water and swam the two or three fox lengths to the other side of the stream. Even though the stream wasn't wide it was surprisingly deep.

On the other bank Shadowflame shook her pelt quickly and crouched down. She stalked forward, carefully intent on making no sound. She could see her prey now. It was a fat water vole searching to mud for something to eat. It didn't even have a clue of the hunter behind it and dug up the earth with small paws. Shadowflame bunched her muscles and jumped at the creature. She pinned it to the ground and swiftly snapped its spine with a blow of her paw.

Because Shadowflame wasn't on hunting duty, she crouched down and devoured the vole right where she had caught it. It tasted very good and Shadowflame felt comfortably full after she had finished her meal. She got up and swam back to the place where she had drunken from the water. While she waited for the other cats to come back she licked her pelt dry.

A rustling sound announced Swoopingbird's arrival. She was followed by Needlestripe. They both lay down to groom their pelt and wait for Breezepelt.

After some time of waiting Shadowflame wondered where Breezepelt might be, he still hadn't dome back yet and it was past sun high already. She got up and padded to Needlestripe:

"Shouldn't we search for Breezepelt?" She asked. Needlestripe sat up as well, a flash of worry lit up his amber eyes.

"I think we should. I was still hoping he might come back but apparently something happened to him." He called for Swoopingbird and set off. He opened his mouth to catch Breezepelt's scent and then took off carefully, warning his patrol not to make a sound in case something had hurt Breezepelt and was still close by.

A few tree lengths in front of them was a small forest. He quickened his pace a little and headed for the trees. All of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks with bristling fur. Shadowflame almost crashed into him but could stop herself just in time. She wondered what had irritated Needlestripe as a familiar scent hit her nose. She didn't quite remember where she knew it from but she had definitely smelled it somewhere. Then it hit her. It was rogue scent. She remembered the sour stench of crowfood and other things. Her hackles raised and a low growl escaped her mouth. Swoopingbird slapped her tail across Shadowflame's mouth to silence her.

"We have found the rogues and Breezepelt's trail leads straight across this marker." Needlestripe said with a disapproving hiss. He motioned his patrol to follow him and carefully stalked through the tall grass. Breezepelt's scent was still fresh but it was covered by rogue stench. Shadowflame sneezed in disgust which brought her an angry glare from Swoopingbird.

They reached the forest slowly and stopped for a few moments before they pushed through a bunch of ferns. Shadowflame felt uneasiness overcoming her as the sky was blocked out be the thick leaf canopy. A shiver was sent down her back and made the fur along her spine bristle. Breezepelt's scent led them deeper into the woods. And the patrol had to fight their way through bunches of fern and bramble thickets. The rogue scent was growing stronger now and covered Breezepelt's scent completely. Needlestripe motioned his patrol to stop and was about to say something when he heard voices coming from somewhere ahead of them. The patrol crouched down and crept forward until they reached the edge of a clearing. A big group of rogues was assembled in the clearing and all their eyes where fixed on a cat that sat on an old, moos-covered tree stump. His tail was held high and authority could be seen in every single hair of his snow white pelt. His eyes gleamed in a hard, dark amber tone and observed the cats below him carefully. He had just spoken and now his voice could be heard again.

"I have called you here to listen to me. Some of you may already know what you are about to hear, others will have to listen carefully now. Before the clan came we had enough space for everyone. Every cat had its own territory that would support him and maybe a mate as well but the clan took parts of these territories away, too many parts. We now have to share smaller space and this leads to more fights between rogues. You may now ask yourself why I pay attention to these problems and why I would bother to call you here." The white tom let his gaze burn through the assembled crowed before he continued to speak.

"I have called you here to tell you that this fighting must end but for this we don't need a greater tolerance but more territory. To achieve this we will have to drive the clan away. We will have to unite, yes, but the price will be greater than the short period of unity. You will have your territory back in no time and then nothing will disturb your peace." His voice rang over the clearing and the rogues' eyes lit up in excitement and a few meows of approval could be heard.

Shadowflame looked into Needlestripe's and Swoopingbird's shocked eyes. Slowly the patrol backed away, now more intent than ever not to make a single sound. The trotted back to the river as suddenly a cat jumped out of the bush. Shadowflame hissed and faced the stranger stiff-legged and bristling. A low, threatening growl escaped Needlestripe's throat and Swoopingbird's hackles where raised and her yellow gaze burned into the cat hidden by the shadows. Wearily, the stranger stepped out of the shadow and Shadowflame recognized Breezepelt.

The patrol relaxed but Needlestripe gave him a hard stare: "Where have you been?" he hissed at the younger warrior.

"I was hunting and chased a rabbit into these woods where I lost it, only then did I recognize rogue scent and then I found all these cats beginning to walk to the clearing. I couldn't have possibly gotten away without being caught." The tabby explained. Needlestripe only nodded and led the patrol back in the direction of their territory. He picked up a quick pace as the sun was already low in the sky the urgency of bringing the message of what they heard giving them more speed. As the squeezed themselves through brambles last they could hear the loud voice of the white leader calling:

"We will attack tomorrow night!"

**Yes, finally finished after such a long time. The chapter is a little bit broken sometimes because I wrote it over several days and didn't bother to read through it so I knew where I was exactly. I guess it didn't turn out to be that short after all, hihi.**

**I just thought of this rogue threat randomly so the reason why the white cat calls the rogues to attack might be a little weak, but who cares? It will bring action to the story. **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and … um … oh yeah: REVIEW!**

**~Glowy**


	21. Chapter 20 anniversary: Race the Time

Shadowflame's breath was coming in short raged gasps. Her paws were aching and her lungs were screaming for air. Here flanks were heaving while she was lying on her side, trying to calm and relax in the little time she had. Ever since she and the others had left the forest behind them they were running, racing along the landskip as if their lives depended on it. And in some way they were. If they didn't make it in time, their clan wouldn't have time to prepare for the rogues' attack. They wouldn't be able to be surprised by the attack anymore, but they still wouldn't have enough time to get ready, reinforce the camp wall, practice some last battle skills. If the patrol wasn't there in time, their clan would die. Their clan was skilled, that was true, but the rogues were many.

With these thoughts in on their minds the patrol had been running as fast, as if they had grown wings on their paws. They had been hadn't stopped a single time, if they weren't running then they were walking, but always moving. Now they were finally taking a break, only a few tree lengths before their territory. They would have wanted to reach their territory first but their paws just didn't carry them any longer. With drooping tails, hanging heads and numb paws they fell over so short before their territory.

Shadowflame was still lying were she collapsed. Hunger was clawing at her belly and thirst almost drove her mad. She was still panting, feeling every muscle in her body go unfeeling with exhaustion or scream in pain. The sun blinded her as it was about to disappear behind a hill and dive into the ocean. They had made it way before moon high. Shadowflame smiled inwardly with satisfaction before she fell into an unconscious sleep.

A rough paw on her shoulder woke Shadowflame. She felt as if she had only slept for a heartbeat but she knew that she had slept for quite a long time, the moon was already near its summit. She blinked a few times until she could see the face in front of her clearly. It was Needlestripe. He shook her once more and then moved on to wake Breezepelt. Swoopingbird was already in her feet however she swayed like a tree in the wind with drowsiness.

"Let's get going." Needlestripe rasped, his voice was hoarse with the lack of water in his throat. He flicked his tail padded towards the border, setting up a quick pace despite their rapid chivvy.

Shadowflame felt calmed instantly as they crossed the familiar scent marker. Even though she didn't really feel it, she was never completely relaxed while they were out of their territory.

Needlestripe led them along a familiar path that carved around hills and dunes. They crossed the stream where they stopped shortly to quench the piercing thirst they had felt. Shadowflame could feel some of her life draining back into her limbs as she gulped the cool, fresh water.

With new strength the patrol padded onwards over dunes and around a few gorse bushes. The moon was almost at its highest peak when they finally reached the camp. Shadowflame longed to curl up in her nest and sleep for moons but she knew that they had to report first. They thought of the sinister white rogue sent a shiver down her back and woke new worries.

Slowly the clan woke and several warriors padded out of the dens to great them. Breezepelt was almost run over by his two kits, Shortkit and Petalkit. They were very close to being apprenticed. After he had survived his kits' attack his mate Tangleleaf stepped forward to great him. Shadowflame looked around and searched the cats for a familiar dark gray pelt.

"Behind you." Someone whispered into her ear. Surprised, Shadowflame spun around and gazed into Grasspelt's dark green eyes. She purred and licked his ear.

"I am glad that you're back, did you find anything interesting?" he asked.

"You will have to wait until we tell Spraystar, but I don't think that we bring any good news. In fact, it couldn't bring any worse news." Shadowflame saw Grasspelt's neck fur bristle alarm. She deeply wished that what her patrol was about to tell their clan wasn't true but she knew that nothing could be changed.

"I see you are back safely." Spraystar had emerged from his den was now slowly padding towards Needlestripe. The cats that had been talking quieted down and made space for their leader.

"Yes, and we have found their meeting place but there is something I must tell you in private first." Needlestripe said and dipped his head. Curious murmurs broke out between the cats. It was clear that the whole clan wanted to know what had happened.

"Very well, I guess it will be okay if Sungaze joined us." With these words he turned around and walked towards his den, closely followed by the tabby warrior and the ginger deputy.

Curious, murmuring clan cats turned onto the three remaining cats that had gone onto the patrol but Shadowflame was too tired and too scared to stand the pestering questions of her clanmates. Swoopingbird and Breezepelt seemed to feel the same way as the just walked through the crowd in the direction of the warriors den.

"Hey, let them through. They need to sleep. We will find out soon enough what are to know." Grasspelt spoke to the clan. Thankful for his understanding, Shadowflame leaned onto Grasspelt's shoulder as he softly guided her towards the warriors den. With limbs stiff from exhaustion, Shadowflame could finally curl up in her nest and fall asleep while Grasspelt's gentle licks soothed her burning body.

**I think an apology is needed here: I apologize for letting you wait for so long (A MONTH!). I just couldn't bring myself to write ANYTHING, I haven't even been on FanFiction for this time. I just hope that you forgive me. I think the best way to tell/show me is by writing reviews that you still read this story and by telling me what you think of this chapter. By the way, the other two stories will be continued as well and I will only publish the next chapter when I have got at least three reviews because I partly didn't write anything because I was really unmotivated by having no reviews for the other chapters.**

**~Glowingsoul**

**PS: I apologize again and hope that you support me by reviewing**


	22. Chapter 21: Ambush

It seemed as if Shadowflame had only slept for a heartbeat before she was roused again. Her limbs were stiff and sore from her long run. Stumbling she tried to set one numb paw in front of the other and slowly crept out of the warriors den. Only when she saw Spraystar sitting on the Big Rock, did she notice that it was his call that had awoken her.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join her beneath the Big Rock for a clan meeting." His commending yowl rang across the whole clearing and swiftly the clan gathered around him, curiosity and expectation in their eyes.

"Needlestripe and his patrol have brought a grave message to the clan. On their patrol for the search of the rouge's place they had the luck to listen to a rogue assembly." Astonished murmurs rushed through the crowd. It was unusual for rogues to assemble. Spraystar waited for a while and then silenced the cats with a wave of his tail.

"As Needlestripe told me they were called together by one white cat. I know him and I guess that some of our older warriors know him too. His name is Chill." Confused meows came from the mouths of the younger cats the older only exchanged uneasy glances.

Shadowflame leaned closer to Heathertail to ask her if she knew something about this cat but the brown she-cat only shook her head.

"I don't know much. Only that he is really evil, considered slightly mad and will definitely go to the Dark Forest when he dies. I think he used to belong to the clan and his name was Owlchill. He was a close friend to Spraystar." Shadowflame shivered unconsciously. An evil, mad cat that wished to drive out Oceanclan with a whole band of rogues. What could he possibly want?

Shadowflame drew her attention back to Spraystar who was speaking again: "We will reinforce the camp walls and prepare for an attack. Guards shall be placed all around the camp, some very close and others further away to warn us a soon as possible." The cats murmured in agreement.

"Windstep," Spraystar addressed the brown tom. "Take Redblaze and a few apprentices with you to gather gorse and other branches to reinforce the camp walls." Windstep nodded and together with Redblaze, a dark ginger tom with red feet, he gathered up Stripedpaw, Featherpaw, Dapplepaw and Thornpaw and headed out of camp.

"Sungaze, you will set up the guards together with Needlestripe. Make sure that you are not seen from far away and try to cover the whole area around camp. Shellheart, take Lightstreak and Pineear with you to control the borders, which face to the rogues' territory. The rest of the clan will help wherever they can. "As soon as Spraystar jumped off Big Rock Sungaze and Needlestripe called the names of the cats they chose to stand guard and headed out of camp with the border patrol, the rest of the each in their own way. The apprentices and some younger warriors practiced battle moves; the queens herded their protesting kits into the nursery. Shadowflame could hear Greenkit and her sisters complaining.

"It's not fair." Bluekit wailed.

"Yes, if those stupid dirty furballs had decided to attack one moon later we could have joined the battle." Tallkit meowed.

"Oh, I wouldn't have let you." Darkdapple purred and pushed the three sisters into the nursery. Glowingsoul followed them. Her belly huge and almost hung on the earth. Her kits could be coming any moment. Shadowflame hoped that this moment would be after the battle.

She turned around and spotted Featherpaw and Thornpaw who were carrying the first branches of gorse into camp. She walked over to them and picked up a load that she carried over to the nursery where she began to weave them into the wall. Soon Sealpaw came over to help her. Together they managed to reinforce the wall in a fair amount of time.

It was sunhigh when they were done. Shadowflame's paws were soar form the prickly branches and her stomach was rumbling. She decided to take a short break and eat something. Luckily the freshkill pile was well stoked so she didn't have to hunt for her food.

She chose a juicy looking morsel from the pile and carried it over to a silent corner next to the nursery where she wouldn't be in the way of anyone. Slowly she took a first bite and felt the taste tingle in her mouth. It was a very delicious morsel. She quickly ate the rest of her prey and felt comfortably full after her meal. She would have loved to just lay down where she was and take a nap in the sun but she knew that there were still more things to prepare.

Suddenly she heard the wail of a kit coming from the nursery and an angry Goldenberry hissing:

"Out, out with you three! You are getting too wild for the nursery. Go and play outside." An annoyed Bluekit was followed out of the nursery by her two sisters. As the reddish she-kit met her bigger sister's reproachful glance she snapped at her:

"Well it's not my fault, is it? Why did Crabkit sit around in our way? It is he who should be blamed." Her fur stood on end.

"Bluekit, you know that that's not true. Crabkit is way smaller than us and he just wanted to watch." Tallkit tried to calm her. "And I know that Goldenberry overreacted but she was just worried. After all you _did_ crash into him."

"Still…" Bluekit mumbled sulkily and kicked up some dust with her paws.

"Come on Bluekit. Stop sulking and play with us. We are allowed outside the nursery and who knows when the rouges will attack and we will be called back inside." Greenkit nudged her sister's shoulder. At these words Bluekit's eyes lit up again and she twirled around to pin the surprised Greenkit to the ground.

"Let's train some battle skills so we can defend the nursery when those foxfaces show up." Bluekit meowed excitedly. She jumped of Greenkit and hurled herself straight at her dark dappled sister. But Tallkit was prepared and jumped to the side so that Bluekit cannoned straight into Shadowflame who had been watching them.

"Oh, hey Shadowflame. Sorry about that." She meowed cheerfully, not sounding the least bit sorry at all. Shadowflame purred and showed Bluekit off her.

"Be careful you don't disturb any of the other warriors." She warned. Bluekit just nodded quickly and raced back to her sisters. Shadowflame shook the dust from her fur and searched the camp for any other place where she could help.

Suddenly Lightstreak burst into camp. Her gray eyes where wide and her breath came in ragged gasps, her fur stood on end.

"The rogues! They are coming! A whole huge lot of them just crossed the border and is heading to camp." Spraystar hurried towards her.

"Is Chill among them?"

"No, I haven't seen him and nobody else said that they recognize him in the crowd." Spraystar's eyes narrowed.

"Are you sure?" Lightstreak nodded quickly.

"Very sure."

"But where can he be?" Spraystar mumbled more to himself than to the pale ginger she-cat.

"Maybe you should look behind you." A voice suddenly said. It sent a chill down Shadowflame's back it was very soft but still blood freezing. Like a dawn soft kitten paw with a warriors' sharp claws raking slowly down your spine.

The whole clan whisked around and saw a medium sized white cat stepping out of the shady area nxt to the medicine cat's den.

"You should really pay more attention to your borders." He said with a small chuckle. Then he gave a terrible yowl and jumped at Spraystar. At the same time several dozen rogues poured down the dunes into camp.


	23. Chapter 22: The Battle

Shadowflame was thrown onto her back by a black tom with a vicious snarl. Immediately she tried to twist out of his grasp for she didn't want him to tear open her soft belly. Still he managed to run one hind paw along her flank, leaving her fur wet with trickles of blood. This enraged her and she crashed down her extended claws hard onto her opponent's sensitive nose. He yowled in agony and slashed out with his paw in retaliation but pain and blood blinded him and his movement was sloppy, missing Shadowflame by a whisker's length. She jumped out of the reach of his wildly flailing paws.

Before the tom could regain his posture she shot forward again and threw him to the ground. Now on top of him she could get a good grip on his shoulder. She tasted blood as she tore open his skin. The tom squealed in pain and tried to break free but this only resulted in an even deeper gash. Shadowflame shook the tom violently one more time before letting go and watching him flee out of camp.

With blood on her muzzle and fiery rage in her heart she turned back to camp to seek out her next opponent.

She spotted a rusty colored she-cat trying to break into the nursery. Sparrowwing was already running towards her but just when he was about to reach her a big dark gray tom barreled into him and threw him into some gorse bushes.

Immediately Shadowflame shot forward, under the claws of another opponent and crashed into the rusty she-cat. She hissed with surprise and clawed at Shadowflame's shoulders. She yowled in pain and rammed her head into the she-cat's belly in retaliation. She threw the rogue onto her back, her forepaws pinning her shoulders to the ground. She could have had a good go at the she-cat's throat. She looked into the she-cat's eyes and saw fear flash up in them. For a short moment Shadowflame felt powerful. If she wanted to, she could just end this miserable cat's life with on bite. She bent down a little, making the rusty she-cat scramble to get free. But Shadowflame had her pinned to the ground firmly. She couldn't escape.

The breath of the rusty cat was coming in short fearful gasps. Shadowflame grinned slightly. One single bite…

Suddenly Shadowflame realized what she was doing. _What, in StarClan's name, are you thinking? You can't just kill this cat! _She was unsure. She thought of the warrior code: "An honorable warrior does not need to kill other cats to win her battles, unless they are outside the warrior code or if it is necessary for self-defense." _No, you can't kill her._

The rogue saw the hesitation in Shadowflame's eyes and grinned. With a mighty effort she freed herself from the young black she-cat and pinned her to the ground just like Shadowflame had done it a moment ago. But unlike Shadowflame the rusty she-cat felt no scruples at the thought of killing a cat. Before Shadowflame could react the rogue had already clamped her teeth around her throat.

A searing pain shot through Shadowflame and she had the feeling to suffocate as the rogue bit down. She frantically tried to free herself, her claws slashing madly in empty air. This just made the rogue bite down harder and Shadowflame was forced to go limp. Panic started to take her over, she couldn't breathe anymore. She could feel the rogue's filthy teeth sinking into her throat very slowly, unbearably slow, intending on making her death as painful and lasting as possible.

Shadowflame's chest felt ready to explode, hot pain shot through her body, she wanted to scream but no sound came from her parted lips. She caught a short glimpse at the rogue's menacing eyes and knew that death was going to come upon her.

Black spots were dancing across her vision and Shadowflame had the feeling that she heard weird voices that hadn't been there before. She didn't know if they belonged to StarClan or where just conjured by her oxygen deprived brain. The pain at her throat was excruciating.

Suddenly the heavy weight of the rogue lifted from her and she could feel the teeth tear away, ripping her flesh. Someone had slammed into the rusty she-cat, throwing her off Shadowflame. She was left lying on the ground, dazed, only being able to draw deep, painful gasps of air.

After a few moments, she had found enough strength to stand up and look for her savior. She spotted him in a fight with the vicious rusty she-cat. He clawed at her flank and belly, bit down hard on her tail, crashed his paws into her head and finally sent her fleeing with her tail beneath her legs. It took Shadowflame some time to recognize him. It was Windstep. He had saved her life, even though Shadowflame was convinced he hated her.

Before Shadowflame could take her thoughts any further she was interrupted by yowls. The battle wasn't over yet. She looked around and saw Pineear fight against two cats very close to her. Ignoring the pain at her throat, she ran up to him and raked her claws down the smaller cat's back. With a surprised yowl of agony it turned on Shadowflame. Blood was already running down his chest from a wound where Pineear's claws had torn at his flesh. It only took her a few more bites and scratches to send him fleeing from camp.

Around her the more and more rogues started to flee. The battle was finally drawing to a close. Shadowflame scanned the camp for any more enemies and spotted Chill still locked in a fight with Spraystar. Suddenly he tore free and jumped out of Spraystar's reach. His fur was matted with his own blood.

"Rogues! Retreat!" he yelled. Quick as lightning, the last rogues broke free from there fights and scampered off through the gorse bushes that lined the camp with Chill leading them. Just as he reached the top of a dune he turned around once more and fixed the clan with his menacing yellow stare.

"Don't worry OceanClan. We _will_ be back." He spat before turning around and running after his fellow rogues.


End file.
